Mostly aimed at my fellow providers here, but I suppose it's applicable to the men too:

If you see a therapist, do you tell him/her about your profession(/hobby)? I'm always worried they're going to assume anything that's bothering me jumps back to my (now former) work, when in reality nothing could be further from the truth.

I don't tell her. She has seen me over many years now and knows I am happily and safely promiscuous! She never approved of my horny CL trolls and nameless victims. They were kinda dangerous and risky; stopped those only to peruse the SB/SD type of arrangements- they never worked out and were kinda boring. Funny, she did recently applaud me on not having any wild trysts lately... If she only knew. LOL! I keep this persona truly private and IF there were an issue or occurrence that were to spill over into my real life, well then it would possibly be disclosed. She did tell me that a SB/SD arrangement is healthy, at least when the boundaries are clearly defined. I guess it's because it's considered "dating"- it's kinda funny don't ya think? I do let her know from time to time an older gentleman does spoil me... She just doesn't know how many!

Stay sane and safe!

A therapist can only guide and assist with aspects of your life you disclose to them. If there are parts of your life you don't want to talk about, then you don't. The same crap comes up in other aspects, so the underlying problems can get dealt with. It's up to you to seek the help and the correlations.

I don't think the OP is saying she sought therapy because she provides. If that were the case, then yes, I agree with you. If you need help dealing with this, don't go in there talking about that. To each her own.

Why are you wasting time with a sex-negative therapist?!  A therapist isn't supposed to judge you, just provide the safe space to sort yourself out.

Not saying she's sex negative. She knows I swing and have multiple partners (M and F) and has never had an issue with that. But, just like all things that we partake in that may not be safe or healthy, that is where her concern lies.

She has never judged me, and if anything, she pushed my explorations and wanted me to pursue relationships when I chose not to, because they were just sex. She gets that NSA sex get me off, and if they're done correctly, not hurting or compromising anyone's safety then fine. I remain responsible and we discuss testing and health issues of the behavior I am involved in and I have never given her a reason to think I am out of control or not in agreement with the actions I take.

I do not see my therapist because I hobby. I have seen her for many years and other (family and work) issues were the reason I sought her guidance. I have been involved in the hobby for a short while and have also grappled with disclosing this aspect of my life to her, but in the in end it is my decision. Because of all of the other risk factors invovled with the hobby, I am sure she would not support this decision.

In CBT, the client learns to challenge unrealistically negative beliefs about himself/herself, and to get more of what he/she wants from life.

Psychotropic medications have proven to help many patients with several disorders (e.g. SRIs for depression), but the main specific problem I have with big pharma currently is that they are pushing to expand the psychotropic medications that are prescribed to children.  I do not think  the bipolar diagnosis should be given to children.  

The proposals for DSM5 include a new Prodomal Psychosis diagnosis which will, if adopted, result in increased unnecessary use of medications by children.










-- Modified on 7/19/2012 5:31:56 PM

-- Modified on 7/19/2012 5:33:41 PM

-- Modified on 7/19/2012 5:36:19 PM

shrinks are just there to dispense pills and little more, so why bother?

Back in my days, we had real therapist who provided insights that brought about change in behavior by changing the way a patient saw him/herself.

But that don't butter any parsnips for the drug companies, do it?

that's a good one.