this might be more vent-ish and long winded than i intended it to be so i might eventually delete but i desperately need to get it off my chest somewhere and to people who might Get It ?
general cw for topics of mental health and suicide (i’m not sure what else to tag specifically!)
i previously saw the same therapist for 2 years straight and i’ve been bouncing around different ones ever since. i’m on my fourth one since then and it’s probably been the worst experience i’ve had with a therapist yet.
i’m bipolar 2 with adhd, and our latest appointment was the last straw. i was hypomanic this time, but very low and suicidal in the last appointment, which prompted her to oh-so-kindly tell me “thank god you’re feeling better, if you were still suicidal i’m not sure i would be able to keep you as a client because its not something i can deal with.” this was a therapist who advertised herself as specializing in bipolar.
i absolutely should not have done this in hindsight but i couldn’t keep my mouth shut at the time because, well, hypomania and impulsivity and whatnot, but later on in the session i mentioned that i was worried about immigrants in the US and mass deportations and Evil and Doom and that a lot of my friends were scared too. my therapist replied with, word for word, “well, if you and your friends aren’t illegals there’s nothing to worry about right?” i was so dumbfounded i just did not answer for a good 10 seconds and then changed the subject. there was nothing to say. i felt genuinely sick afterwards. i guess it was on me for bringing it up to someone whose opinions i wasn’t familiar with, but when would anyone be familiar with their therapist’s political opinions ??? isn’t that an ethical boundary or something
TLDR needless to say i am once again looking for a new provider. i’ve tried pretty much every website for finding people in my area. i dont like online stuff/zoom meetings so that severely narrows my options. i guess i’d like to know what sort of questions i should be asking people? to narrow out the Weird and Offputting providers if there’s even a way to do that? i don’t know. im just tired bros. any input on how to make things not suck would be appreciated because im just so disillusioned with the whole Mental Health System at this point. thanks for reading this far.
I have a hard boundary that I will not work with a therapist if they aren't willing to have a 15 minute consultation over the phone to check the vibes.
I tell them my issues then ask:
I also will bring up why I broke up with my last provider and any other worries I might have around treatment to see how they respond to that. I usually use psychologytoday to search for therapists and I'll usually interview 2 or 3 before making a decision, if I'm lucky enough to find that many with availability.
What a shitty experience, I'm sorry you had to deal with that. So unprofessional, I seriously cannot believe how some people manage to get their licensure