Posted by lpslpslpslpslpslps on June 7, 2010, at 19:19:23 [reposted on June 11, 2010, at 13:45:10 | original URL]
In reply to Re: Brainstorming alternate treatment options » lpslpslpslpslpslps, posted by violette on June 6, 2010, at 1:02:30
> Many of those with strong defense mechanisms, say-intellectualization, can benefit from psychodynamic therapy, which is about "feeling".
Can you tell me more about psychodynamic therapy? I've asked my psychiatrist about different types of therapy in the past, but he tends to do his own thing. He basically just asks me to talk about what is going on in my life, and he periodically asks follow-up questions, or makes suggestions about possible connections between things I have said, and if I ask him to suggest a course of action he will give me a little guidance.
After med school and residency this guy spent several years training at a psychoanalytic institute, so I trust that his approach to psychotherapy is based on some expertise, but I don't know if he really 'takes requests' when it comes to forms of psychotherapy.
He's always been supportive of my interest in psychiatry and psychopharmacology. He loans me issues of the academic journals he subscribes to, he gave me his old PDR, and he's loaned me a couple textbooks that's he's used when teaching at the UCLA med school. And if I come in for our weekly session and I ask him a bunch of questions about treating schizophrenic patients or about his experience running a psych hospital (which he did when he was younger), he's happy to talk to me about that for the whole time. It's like having weekly one-on-one access to an expert in a field I am intensely curious about, in addition to having a caring doctor that I like.
In short, I really like this doctor. He doesn't talk down to me, he doesn't tell me things that he knows I already know (and he has a good sense for what I do know and what I don't know). A few times, he has told me that a pharmaceutical rep has recently given him samples of a new drug, and he wants to know what I've seen about that drug in the literature. Of course, I suspect he does this in order to facilitate transference-- heck, I don't know how much I would trust him if he really made it a practice of consulting non-expert mentally ill patients about medication-- but in any event I like it b/c I feel like he's one of the only people in my life that takes me completely seriously. In three years, I've never gotten the "how cute, the patient thinks he knows something about psychiatry" condescension that I expect I would get elsewhere. He's the only person in my life I haven't had to prove myself to.
But, I have no idea if the form of psychotherapy he offers is optimal, b/c I've got no basis for comparison. I do notice two things though: 1) I generally feel better after our appointments than I did before the appointment, even if he hasn't said hardly anything, and 2) often when I am by myself, I start talking to myself mentally as if I were talking to him -- several hours a week of this, in fact, and it feels as effective as the actual therapy. And I never did anything like that before, so who knows.
poster:lpslpslpslpslpslps
thread:950715
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20100529/msgs/950715.html