Unqualified Therapists / Counsellors in HSE

choco_king

Hey all,

I've been suffering with depression/anxiety for 15+ years due to a traumatic childhood involving abusive parents and bullying, drug abuse which has left me in really dark place where I have no friends or family. I find it difficult to trust people and just going outside to the shop is a challenge.

Having talked with my GP, I was referred to psychiatrist and they referred me to addiction services for abuse of alcohol/drugs.

It seemed at the beginning the psychiatrist wasn't really trying to diagnose what was wrong with me and just expected the addiction therapist to "look after" me.

So for 7 months I've been struggling to get some kind of meaningful therapy from this addiction therapist and so far, nothing but there really is no other options available to me, at least I don't see any.

The therapist implied on a number of occasions that my suffering was probably Karma which really upset me because most of my life has been spent suffering at the hands of other people who have themselves suffered at the hands of other persons and I don't think this is helpful advice.

I also said sometimes I wish I'd never been born or if I had the choice, I would choose not to be born to which the therapist replied "You do a choice, you can kill yourself" before retracting that statement and claiming they "didn't mean it"

The final thing that really made me angry was when I talked about the high rate of suicide in Ireland and how little money the government spent on preventing it to which they said: "Life is cheap"

Gradually I became more angry with this therapist and they then suggested I go to the gym and hit a punch bag or take up kick boxing, or possibly look at anger management.

I have real psychological problems and I just can't seem to get help anywhere in the HSE.

I'm beginning to believe it isn't a lack of money in HSE that's to blame for high rates of suicide, but it's the advice like that which I receive from untrained counselors

It's disturbing to me that unqualified therapists / counselors are allowed to work in HSE.
You would not allow an unqualified dentist to work on your teeth but apparently it's okay for anyone to work as a therapist for those suffering mental problems.

The scary thing for me is the amount of unqualified staff in HSE acting as therapists and counselors...this is to me extremely dangerous and I have first hand experience because the last 7 months of trying to talk with the addiction therapist about traumatic events in my life has left me feeling so much worse and since there is nothing else available, I feel absolutely lost. Sometimes I'm just in tears and have no clue what to do. When I try to explain this to therapist, they seem completely unconcerned and disinterested in why I abuse alcohol/drugs to begin with.

I lack confidence in HSE staff to help me with anything and when I try to explain to them their advice has been unhelpful, they become aggressive and defensive telling me I have a "bad attitude" or that I'm "too sensitive"

What is the advice of people here I do in these circumstances?

guitarzero

Hey

I'm not surprised by any of this. I've gotten psychotherapy by private and public (HSE) and both were frankly bollox, especially public. I personally think psychology is a fair bit of winging it and codding the patient hoping they feel better just by talking in itself. I do believe it's very effective regarding things like autism, aspergers etc but for cases like yourself I would guess it has its limitations, unless you get an exceptional psychologist, if there is one.

After years of trying this route I gave up. They say you should just keep at it but it was they who said there is nothing more they can do when I actually persisted with them as to what they have understood (nothing) about my situation.

So as far as psychology is concerned, in my honest opinion, I wouldnt give it too much energy while keeping an open mind. Have you considered ,<mod edit>? They might make the difference. All I'd say is keep an open mind about your situation and see what you could do.

slowburner

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