I don't know anymore

[Twisted Sweet Lies]

I gradate high school in May and I plan to go to college to be a psychologist... But how weird a psychologist who cuts herself.. what a hypocrite I would be. Am I too fucked up to be one sometimes I wonder. Yet once I asked a psychologist if a recovered cutter could be a psychologist and he said yes and that they make good ones because they have insight. He said that without knowing about my cutting or anything. I know he wasn't saying it just to make me happy. I read a memoir about a psychologist who was sent to a mental hospital as a kid. She cut herself too and she stopped and went on to be a psychologist. I haven't stopped cutting yet and I don't know if I can. I've been though a lot of crap and I just don't know any more if this is a realistic dream. There's nothing else I want to do with my life though. I want to help others like myself. I know I could get though all the school I get good grades. Yet a psychologist who cuts? how ironic and odd. Isn't a psychologist supposed to be strong and emotionally stable?

I've been thinking about seeing a psychologist once I get out of college and have a good job. I don't want to now because then my parents would know something was up. A psychologist who sees a psychologist isn't that even weirder? Yet the psychologist I saw before went to a psychologist. I read a memoir about a psychologist who was bipolar and who saw a psychiatrist.

 

[gentlelady]

It isn't as strange as you would think. I know that they are required to go through therapy as part of their training. There are a number of people who choose this profession based on the things they went through themselves. I would say to follow your dreams.

 

[brainless twit]

Hi,

I'm a new lurker to this forum, but just wanted to post and tell you that it's entirely possible. I am a therapist with several suicide attempts in my past, as well as a long history of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. I am in therapy and take antidepressants to manage my illness, but there is no cure (other than a brain transplant, I guess!) and it will never truly go away.

It is very common for therapists to be in therapy themselves; do a google search for "wounded healer" and you will see, as the previous poster said, that many people go into the mental health field because of the things they've experienced. Part of the training you go through involves distancing yourself from what your clients are dealing with, and learning to refer them to someone else if their situation hits too close to home.

Therapists don't solve people's problems - they help them look at their problems and find solutions for themselves. Everyone has something in his/her life, and professionals are no exception.

 

[Lead Savior]

It wouldn't be hypocritical at all. In fact, a psychologist/therapist that has been through depression is actually the better person to treat patients because of their experience and genuine empathy.

My own therapist went through depression and she's great.

 

[Twisted Sweet Lies]

Hi,

I'm a new lurker to this forum, but just wanted to post and tell you that it's entirely possible. I am a therapist with several suicide attempts in my past, as well as a long history of depression and post-traumatic stress disorder. I am in therapy and take antidepressants to manage my illness, but there is no cure (other than a brain transplant, I guess!) and it will never truly go away.

It is very common for therapists to be in therapy themselves; do a google search for "wounded healer" and you will see, as the previous poster said, that many people go into the mental health field because of the things they've experienced. Part of the training you go through involves distancing yourself from what your clients are dealing with, and learning to refer them to someone else if their situation hits too close to home.

Therapists don't solve people's problems - they help them look at their problems and find solutions for themselves. Everyone has something in his/her life, and professionals are no exception.

Do your clients or employers know about your depression and such? I mean what would happen if they found out?