Oddly enough, I just found this post while doing a google search for the phrase "I want a therapist who is bipolar". I've recently been doing research into BP diagnosis and treatment resources in my area and during that process I keep coming back to the notion that I do in fact wish that I could see a therapist who is BP. I am preparing to go in for a consult at a major BP clinic in the area and get to the bottom of whether or not I do in fact have some level of BP. The thing is that based on the way I think, which is an even split between highly regimented thought and highly abstract thought, and my past experiences with 2 different therapists (they were oblivious to the fact that in describing my BP ex's behavior to them that I was describing textbook BP rapid cycling behavior) I keep wondering if a therapist who is not BP is going to be able to connect with me on the intellectual level I need to work on in order to sift through the events with my BP ex, with my BP & PD mother and with all of the insights, memories and connections that during the past 2+ years I've made about behavioral and mood patterns that I've had since I was a kid. I often say that I think in 4 dimensions. I'm not sure that I'm going to have much luck when I do a google search for a therapist who thinks in 4 dimensions. I'm still furious at the last therapist I had for telling me that my BP ex's behavior just meant that she was emotionally labile. I get the fact that back then I was dousing the therapist with a ton of info, that I was a bit of a just-beginning-to-heal-from-my-BP-ex mess but still, how does a well established therapist in the global capital of neurotics not recognize classic BP traits when they are put in front of her? It's ironic/sad that on MDJ I have repeatedly come across members who had/have a partner with BP and who have written about how it was not their therapist who clued them into the fact that their partner/ex likely has BP but that it was a friend or acquaintance who was a social worker or who worked in a mental health facility who told them their spouse/partner likely has BP. I don't know. I just don't know how I'm going to be able to connect with, relate to a non-BP therapist when I feel as though on a normal day my mind is a cross between a psychedelic lava lamp and an interactive 3D holographic mapping system. Christ, when I'm in public in a bar or cafe and I'm drawing and writing in one of journals it's usually the scientists and/or the clearly BP people who I catch staring over my shoulder at my creations. One guy, who turned out to be a scientist who works on genetic sequencing, said that what I was doing in my journal looked like "data" and what I was doing at the time was a version of my self-portrait. Thoughts? Have a great day! Post edited by: invisiblenyc, at: 04/17/2012 03:39 PM "It is important that we remove toxic people from our lives even it is painful for us to do so. If we do not do so then the long-term negative impact of their presence in our lives is often worse than the short-term pain of cutting them out of our lives." - me
"He or she had these problems before you, while he or she was with you, and left untreated will have the problems after you are long gone." - Circles2007
""virtuous personality traits, such as loyalty, empathy and being non-judgemental towards others, can unintentionally act as as emotional "gate way drugs" to becoming co-dependent." - me
"We all have a little of something in us I think. The question is does it prevent you from functioning and leading a productive stable life...if the answer is yes...then your little something is actually a big something that needs to be addressed." - kalissalea
"It's a process, and some days will be easier than others. I can't be with someone who blames me for their behavior. It's too emotionally draining, and prevents us from having the close relationship I deeply want.' - kalissalea |
