Ladies...Enough Already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Ladies...Enough Already!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Mon, 10-04-2004 - 2:10pm
Can we please voluntarily end this thread from grlimilakinskeeper, or whatever her screen name is...it's getting too personal, and not very productive.

Kat

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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 11:07am
Psychiatrists and counselors are completely different. A psychiatrist is a doctor who has been to medical school, passed medical boards, and has be licensed to practice medicine. A child would need to be mentally ill (have a medical disorder related to the brain) to see a psychiatrist. Your children are unlikely to need one of these.

However, counselors (and psychologists) are not medical doctors. One does not need to be mentally ill to benefit from counselors who specialize in helping people work through problems they are having in their life. Psychologists specialize in different areas like family issues, educational issues, behavioral issues, etc. As you found out with your dss not everyone benefits from seeing a couselor. IMO those who benefit the most are people who are perfectly normal, but are having an issue that they are not able to control on their own (like the divorce of a parent, or the loss of a parent). A professional can be a neutral party to help a child just get through a tough time. It doesn't mean he is a mental case.

I am asking that my ds (the 8 year old) see the school's counselor so he can receive help with organizational issues. He is not a mental case. He is not failing in school. He is a perfectly normal 8 year old boy. However, his organizational skills are lacking and despite my best efforts he is still forgetting to bring things home and then forgetting to bring his completed work to school. He needs someone who has seen zillions of 8 year old boys have these problems to work out a solution with him.

Jenna

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 11:37am
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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-31-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 12:27pm
You'll probably have to pay out-of-pocket in that case, and you'll have trouble getting in. Most insurance plans will not cover treatment by a psychiatrist unless the patient is ALREADY diagnosed as needing psychotropic medications. Most plans require you to see a psychologist first, and if THAT person determines that medications are likely necessary, you are forwarded up the chain to a psychiatrist who can prescribe them.

In practice, the key difference between a psychotherapist and a psychiatrist is that nly the psychiatrist is allowed to prescribe medications. If "talk" therapy is all that is being sought, the psychotherapist or licensed counselor is almost always better at that, because they still do it, while psychiatrists seldom have time. Trust me, I know this; in today's practice climate, psychiatrists do not usually see you unless you unless you have to have meds managed.

Times have changed since the 1960's. You are not the only one here who had a mentally-ill parent. I knew the system then, too, and it has changed out of all recognition. My mother ALWAYS saw a psychiatrist, but it took me 5 years to get in to see one.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 12:38pm
Why not. Best friends know more about your daughter, what is really bothering her and what she really thinks, than any adult in a room with a closed door is ever going to. And the friends will offer that benefit of really being able to relate and see it from her perspective. And the provide concrete reinforcement of that really really really important thing. Your child's world is not defined entirely by her family...in any way. There is a very unrelated-to-family out-there of friends and relationships and everything else, that can be good inspite of the over-here that isn't. Which is a lesson we want all our children to learn as early as possible in life.
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 12:41pm

No, for two reasons:


Therapists providing preventative

Virgo
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 12:44pm

But she's yet to say that the decision is based on her knowledge of her specific children and NOT on her fear of or contempt for the mental health field.


Virgo
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 12:47pm

But other 10, 11, or 12 year old girls may not give the best advice in terms of long term problem solving.


A shoulder to cry on. . yes.


Talking through problem solving, while keeping long term ramifications in mind. . .not so much.

Virgo

Virgo
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 3:12pm
Thats ridiculous. She said she is not taking her kids to a mental health professional, but would if they had a need to go. That means, exactly, she has determined that her children, exactly and specifically, have no need to go. And further suggests that she has neither contempt nor fear of the mental health profession.

Perhaps she has contempt for the way people try to use the profession, and for the way the profession allows itself to be used.

Its the other posters who are interpreting her analysis of her own childrens' situation, in terms of children she doesn't even know. For whatever reason, the poster community has a strong need to have Grimal agree with them and validate their own choices. Its interesting, but I suggest the poster community get over it. Its not a healthy need to harbor. Perhaps...some mental health therapy is in order?

iVillage Member
Registered: 09-25-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 3:41pm

I disagree that she has no contempt for the field, since she has regularly used words such as "quack" and "shrink" to describe professionals in the field.


As to your suggestion regarding needing mental health therapy. . .I'm not opposed to it and have used it proactively and reactively at various times in my life.


Virgo
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 10-14-2004 - 3:45pm
Problem solving?

The parents are getting divorced. The child is having a home split up. Thats not a problem that can be "solved". Feeling upset during a time like that is not a problem that needs to be "solved". Its all just an unpleasant life event the child is going to experience and the pain of which can be mitigated by the shoulders to cry on.

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