Phychiatry? O,O

I recently got out of the church and now my mom wants me to go see a Psychologist.
Im really freaked out

after everything I heard when I was in the church about them they scare me
but I dont know
So I guess what Im trying to ask is
Are Psychologist really as bad as the church says?

Is being outside the CoS really as bad as they claim?

I believe someone said in a different thread that if someone lies to you once, then you are allowed to expect them to do it again.


Now that doesn't really answer your question, and the correct answer is; Although there are certainly groups that have valid reasons for not liking psychiatrists (that meaning most things besides nutjob religious theories), there are few reasons for this. Most prevalent is the one about them being money hungry bastards who don't care, and this is true for a very minor number. Most psychologists will find out if your problems are, and then see if they need a prescription or not.

Will you need a psychologist? Chances are it will actually help. If you are an ex, you will have had certain traumatic experiences, and even if you didn't there are still things locked away that will burden you, seeing a psychologist may help.

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Dear ESK guest,

No, psychologists and psychiatrists are not frightening at all and there is no reason for you to be "freaked out" at all. I believe you would enjoy telling your experiences to one or the other and that they would probably be interested in hearing your experiences too. If you start with someone and you do not work well together, you can always go to another one - or simply quit. You are the one in charge of how you spend your money. They are not free, but the costs are not unbearable.

On the other hand, If you feel OK and are doing well, there probably is no real reason to see a Psychologist or Psychiatrist. Except maybe to make your mom feel better - and, in my book, that is a pretty darn good reason.

Moms are valuable, take good care of her.

How old are you, by the way, and how long were you "in" and were you staff, so or public?

Glad you are out. Bet your mom is too.

Thank you for replying
My mom is said she would pay for it so thats not the problem. I guess I am so used to the church and my father telling me they where bad.
I was in sine I was 5 and I am 17 now
I was just a member
but my dad worked for them
I ran away to my moms house
and she took me in
My dad used to always say how bad my mom was because she wasn't a Scientologist
But I dont see how thats true
she so nice

Most psychiatrists and psychologists genuinely want to help you. Whether they can or not is up to you. The only thing I found scary about it is that you have to go in and talk to them about stuff you probably don't like talking about.

That said, there are some psychiatrists that are pretty quick to write a prescription. But you're in charge, you just tell him/her if that's something you don't want to do.

And if you're still worried, talk to your mom about it.

Dear ESK guest,

You are very smart to have gone to your mom - you stick with her and you will be fine.

Why don't you register as a member of this forum, and read the stories of others like you who decided to leave the "church" too. Do not worry about how good your writing is. Just read and write back if you want to.

Don't expect your mom to be all sweetness and light all the time! Work with her, help her out when she maybe has a rough day.

Keep in touch with us here. If you register, then you can PM (personal/private message) me or anyone else on the forum and we will try to help as best we can.

Your mom could join too if she wants. I think that would be a good thing.

Use your precious free time to relax, read, take walks, watch TV, listen to music - whatever you enjoy. After you get to feeling really good and comfortable, then you can start to think about the rest of your life.

Do not rush or hurry too fast. Have fun!

I was a member for about 15 years too - and I'm old enough to be your grandfather. Thank you for posting here - I'm looking forward to your next message.

[astra]

Dear ESK guest,

I hope you do join our forums. You were very smart to go to your mom and she sounds like she really cares about you.

I don't think you should be afraid to go and see a therapist, if someone were offering to pay, I'd go! Just see what happens and if it helps, great.

Hope to see you around on the forums.

Astra

[Grundy]

The dreams get less and less over the months and years. I still have them from time to time, but know it is some sort of crazy idea and would never consider going back.

Time is a big healer. Talking with people who have had similar experiences is a BIG help. Especially people on this forum.

Trust me, many of us have gone through the same things you are going through and would be happy to share our stories and advice.

I myself have never seen a Psychiatrist or Counselor, but instead have relied on my family and friends and former Sea Org members who I could share my thoughts and feeling with. For me I wanted to talk with someone who had a common reality to what I had gone through and I did not think a Psych would understand.

[astra]

ETA: OK DUH!! I just realized that you are Sunflower and I already posted some of this in your other thread. LOL Sorry.

I'm gonna leave it anyway in case anyone else visits and is going through something similar.

Original message:

I have never been in CoS. But I have had mental illness all my life. I know for you that may be scary and bad.

I wont try to convince you of the reallness of my problems.

But I CAN tell you what it is like to see a psychologist.

Here are some things you need to know:

A therapist is someone who does therapy. They could have varying levels of education.

The best or most educated therapists are Psychologists. Technically they are "doctors" since they have a PhD. But they are not physicians. They cannot legally prescribe medications. They are not supposed to diagnose either. They basically just do therapy. If they feel someone has a medical illness they will suggest you see a Psychiatrist.

A psychiatrist is actually a medical doctor. They rarely do therapy. Mostly visiting them is like seeing any kind of doctor without the blood tests and clinical setting. It just takes a very few minutes and you talk about symptoms and side-effects.

So, I think your mother's suggestion to see a psychologist is a good one. All that could happen is that you don't like what they say. You are in control. They work for you. You can fire them any time and they know it.

They have seen and heard it ALL.

There are different types of therapy. I wont go into that, I aready did on another thread any way.

But basically you will either talk about the past and how it effects you now, or talk about things you can do to make you life better now. Or both.

usually you control where the session goes.

I have had several. One I LOVED. He was very proactive. He gave me practical suggestions. And I would try to improve because I knew I was going to be seeing him in 2 weeks. lol He moved out of state.

The next one was a very nice small woman. I adored her. But it wasn't a good fit for me. It seemed like we spent more time assessing how I was doing that talking about how to fix it. So I changed.

Now I see a woman who is very fun and has lots of good suggestions.

As an example. I was concerned about my driving because I suffer from daytime sleepiness. She suggested I go to the local college and take a test that they give to elderly drivers to assess my alertness while driving. lol

it's really great stuff. You are going to like it, I believe.