Maybe they’re schizophrenic. Maybe they’re bipolar. Maybe they’re depressed. But it is really hard to tell if they’re also snorting coke and drinking a bottle of whiskey every day. Very likely they do have some mental illness, but which one? Defer diagnosis and refer for specialized treatment (unless you’re the specialist.)
Yeah, I was a binge drinker most of the time I was in therapy, and kept that from a lot of therapists -- not totally consciously, but I really didn't bring it up. Then when I saw one of them again after a long time I told them I was an alcoholic and had gone to meetings etc., etc., and felt a lot better and they were totally shocked. Poor thing. (If you think someone has a substance abuse problem and they _do_ admit to it, it's almost always accurate to multiply what they say they take by two or three.)
Another therapist of mine, after I sobered up, was shocked when I told him flat out I'd personally make it a requirement of an addict being in therapy that they were in some kind of program, complete with the signed slips. "But wouldn't it be better to first establish some -- " "No." Addicts tend to be much more hardass about that in my experience than mental health professionals, heh. But really, for an active addict, the addiction will always come first before absolutely anything else.
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Date: 2016-01-19 11:56 am (UTC)Yeah, I was a binge drinker most of the time I was in therapy, and kept that from a lot of therapists -- not totally consciously, but I really didn't bring it up. Then when I saw one of them again after a long time I told them I was an alcoholic and had gone to meetings etc., etc., and felt a lot better and they were totally shocked. Poor thing. (If you think someone has a substance abuse problem and they _do_ admit to it, it's almost always accurate to multiply what they say they take by two or three.)
Another therapist of mine, after I sobered up, was shocked when I told him flat out I'd personally make it a requirement of an addict being in therapy that they were in some kind of program, complete with the signed slips. "But wouldn't it be better to first establish some -- " "No." Addicts tend to be much more hardass about that in my experience than mental health professionals, heh. But really, for an active addict, the addiction will always come first before absolutely anything else.