STEPHEN FRY

I recently obtained information on a Thereapeutic Horsemanship program for my son. I also FINALLY found an animal shelter that will let him volunteer as long as I am with him.

I think pet/animal therapy could be great for alot of people. Pets do not hold grudges or judge. For many people they give a calming effect just being around them.

My husband is allergic so we do not have pets of our own. My son adores all animals, and this will give him the chance to interact and feel like he is doing something meaningful. For my son's birthday gift I signed him up to learn how to train assistant dogs. I think that is just the bee's knees, so excited about it and so is he.

So, the point is therapy needs to be theraputic for the individual. For me, pissing in someone's ear an hour a week helps me. I would rather piss in their ear while they are getting paid, instead of calling my friends about stuff all the time. Plus I have two kids, and just having a conversation with an adult is much needed.

I recently joined a support group. That is also theraputic because I talk to other moms who totally get it. I know they do because I see it in their faces. The drained and at a total loss look is easy to spot when you have seen it in your own mirror.

Also this forum. Besides the great advice from so many who have "been there and done that" has been so helpful. Everyone here is so kind, generous and funny. Sometimes I come here when I just need a good laugh.

XXXXX

Chameleon said:
Anyway, I’m not sure what psychiatrists do exactly, but being different from the last thing I’ve tried, is somewhat important.

They will sit you down, try to put you at ease (after all they are just humans like you or I) and they will ask you a lot of questions. Try to be as honest as you can be. They'll ask about your sleep, if you've lost or gained weight recently, if you can cope at work, if you've thought about suicide and how seriously, so on and so forth... lots of questions.

At the end of this they will decide if you are depressed or bipolar or if they need to see you again to diagnose you. They may ask to speak to your family to get a better picture, but that's totally up to you, I refused it.

They may prescribe medication for you and my advice if they do is to pick it up from the pharmacy that day and start taking it.

Don't worry about seeing a psychiatrist - they are generally pretty neurotic people anyhow.

Hugs,

KS (Who works with psychiatrists and psychotherapists).

Hey Ks - didn't know that about psychs also being psychotherapists - that's interesting.
So in the US, where you see people on films having therapy with a shrink,... do they (shrinks) do therapy over there? Maybe in the US psychiatrist is different from one here?

Well, I’m calm, and I’m trying to sort out what I feel in an analytical way.
Which is to say my mother has called and I’m probably angry, but I’m also in a sligthly transcendental way not. It’s like there is a little buddhist monch in my head who tells me that it’s aaaaall right, nothing to worry about and no need to be upset.
It’s like the little buddhist monch is better at parenting than my mother, but the thing is that he might also be nuts.
My mother didn’t say it’s aaaaaall right, nothing to worry about and no need to get upset, because my mother said: „do you come this weekend? Your sister-in-law fell down the stairs with the baby, she’s got bruises and the baby has a broken leg, and she refused to stay in hospital for checking whether there’s also inner bleedings, everyone is very down and I can’t stop crying, after all I’m going through already, it just get’s more and more.“
It probably wouldn’t annoy me that much, if I didn’t know that my sister-in-law also let babies fall off the changing table, because she apparently had to go and pick up the phone, despite having an answering machine. I’m pretty convinced she fell down the stairs for a similar reason and I don’t like a lot of bits of their attitude anyway. It’s often upsetting for me to visit them, because they shout at their children a lot.
And it wouldn’t annoy me that much, if my mother wouldn’t keep saying things like: I can’t be ill, because she couldn’t cope with that in addition to all of the terrible things she is going through. Yes, she has a lot of completely normal side effects to the heavy medication and no, that doesn’t mean she’s going to be dead before september, no matter how many people she tells that.
Anyway. There’s no point driving there just because I’m a bit shocked, as the whole family is around and the baby doesn’t understand what’s happening and I’m not a doctor. The fracture is not very severe, apparently, and will be gone in three weeks. There’s also no point driving there just because my mother is losing some nerves, because she really isn’t as much in need of care as she’d like to be. I’m also not a therapist. So, if I don’t go there to shout at people for various reasons, that would be unsettling, I simply won’t go there and get on with my own life instead. Insignificant as it may seem.
I'm actually doing well at getting some work done and being kind to myself atm.