Seeing a shrink, damn if you do or damned if you don't?

I think it goes both ways, the way society is these days, but hopefully and I would think it would be, in a court of law – more fair and picked apart. I think they would want the opinion of an appointed therapist to analyze you and compare testimony by both therapists to come to a conclusion as to the reason for the visits and to analyze possible motive and capabilities to do whatever would make you unfit.

It certainly seems that way, doesn’t it. I know a lot of people who will pay a therapist in cash and not have the bill submitted to their insurance in order to have less of a “paper trail.”

I have seen a therapist. It was very helpful. It helped focus my thinking.

I don’t think that it has the stigma now that it once did.

But like Dr. Dredd said, you can always pay cash.

I’m with @marinelife. 20 or 30 years ago this was far truer than it is now. Therapy has become a much more accepted and even sometimes expected thing. It’s kind of like bankruptcy. A lot of people fear it because of the stigma, but many lending institutions look at a bankruptcy and say “sure, he’s a risk, but at least he got his house in order”. The same could be true of seeing a therapist. Sure, there would be a stigma, but at least people would know you’re getting your house in order. I’d be much more concerned about the person who needed help and didn’t get it…

You make a good point. I opt for utilizing a shrink though in order to get through life. There are many things out there that can be used against me, real or imagined. I won’t live my life worrying.

Damned if you don’t. Most therapists will support you and genuinely try to help you with a problem. Sometimes people have to see them because they don’t have anyone else to talk to about certain things. Pychologists, psychiatrists and therapists are by law not allowed to expose the fact that you have seen them to ANY organizations and everything you tell them is kept confidential.

…so long as you remember that Fluther is the best place for psychological advice ;)

I left work 1 day with full intentions to drive my car into a wall on the highway. I was crying and going the wrong way, but I was going past OSU Medical Center and decided to go to the ER because I couldn’t take any more harrassment from my manager and I didn’t want to risk hurting others if I crashed. I was taken back, shaking and just completely overwhelmed with feelings of rage, hopelessness, frustration and exhaustion. They stuck me in a filthy, padded room with soft, rubber chairs and I was watched the entire time. I could have stayed, but I chose todo their partial hospitalization program for 2 weeks. After that, my 4th manager talked shit, made EVERYONE think I was nuts and I was blackballed, as were people who associated with me. I was being pushed out. I stayed there and they did so much damage to me that I don’t think I’ll ever be the same. Chalk up another case of PTSD for me. What pisses me off so much is, the stress from John Mathis (Delaware, Ohio) was a huge factor in my chronic pain issue per the professional psychiatric MD’s at Riverside Hospital. Worst thing I ever did was not check that workman’s comp box because I knew I would have lost my job then, but I waited, got sicker and they fired me. All while sitting on FMLA paperwork they should have filled out months before when we reached the number of employees that require you to have FMLA. I begged for it, but no. I just got let go after being on watch in the hospital because I was in so much pain, worried about my job, my bills…everything and I didn’t want to live anymore, so my mom had them put me on watch. Right after that, I went back to work and got fired. The co-owner Stuart Crane who screws around with the office slut, Kelly Jackson, (both married with kids and she is married to a firefighter) and my manager both said I could come back if and when I got better and it had nothing to do with my performance, just the attendance. They both also said they’d write me a letter of recommendation. When I asked the co-owner for one, he said to get it from my manager and I said no, you said you would write one, I don’t want one from him because he has personal issues with me and I wasn’t comfortable. I got no letters of recommendation as promised. I sunk to a new low and asked for my job back and was told they would not be able to consider it – another lie. I haven’t been getting interviews when I put my manager’s name down, so I know he is breaking the law and saying shit about me, that company has been known for doing that, so I am totally screwed, with nothing that I know of that I can do about it.