Therapists - experienced vs unexperienced

As you can tell, I did have a bad experience with an Unexperienced
Psychologist and Psychiatrist (so I am extremely biased now).

The end results of my therapy were: I was incorrectly diagnosed with
OCD and depression, I paid a lot of money for my hairpulling to become
worse, I needlessly suffered with side effects of medications that
weren't helping me, my psychologist & psychiatrist ignored my
complaints, neither my regular doctor, psychologist or psychiatrist
looked at my thyroid condition first before prescribing medications,
they didn't look at the affects of thryoid medications on hairpulling,
neither my psycholoigist or psychiatrist ever looked up any information
about my condition once they found out what it was. 

I did not know what Trichotillomania was when I first went to the
therapist. Even when they found out what it was, they did not do
anything to inform themselves on how to treat me mooe effectively. 

I believe things could be very different for someone going in with the
correct information on Trich, and with finding the right therapist. 

Unfortunately, most therapists unexperienced with TTM diagnose
Depression and OCD and don't do treatments that work for TTM'ers.   

The experienced and more successful TTM therapists know that the same
Med approach doesn't work for everyone, and that people can be
successful without meds. The experienced TTM therapists know that many
times the Depression is a side effect of TTM (Duh who wouldn't be
depressed when they're pulling out their hair?). 

Important because putting you on Depression meds is NOT going to make
the TTM disappear!! 

The unexperienced therapists may keep telling you that you need more
Meds (to make you stop pulling) even when it is not working. (Because
that is how it works with OCD, but the meds don't affect TTMer's the way
they affect OCDers.) Unfortunately, unexperienced therapists can also
get 'excited' to have an 'interesting' case, and then overly diagnose
you. 

Depression is usually a side effect of TTM, not necessarily a precursor. 

Unless you have lots of illogical thoughts, like, "if I wash my hands, I
won't get germs, so I won't get sick, so I won't die" - you probably
don't have OCD either. 

I AM NOT a therapist. But its a fact that lots of people have 'episodal'
depressions, which go away. When us ttm'ers go in, they often say we
suffer from overall depression, and it is not necessarily correct. 

The bottom line is, if you feel like you are coping, then you are
probably NOT in a 'depression'. Being "in" a depression is not the same
thing as being depressed because sad things are happening to and around
you. COPING is the major sign of being a healthy and functioning adult! 

The problem with pschiatric profession in general, is that they 'look'
for something wrong because you came to their office, so it is their job
to 'find' something. They can't 'prove' that you have any of those
things! Most pschologists NEVER send someone home and say "you're
cured." 

A lot of us at the retreat talked about feeling like 'guinie pigs' with
docs. I think I read a quote in Dr. Penzel's book, that the point of
therapy is "to make the patient get better" and unfortunately, a lot of
therapists don't actually see it that way. Some see it as since we 'have
TTM' we should be getting treatment for it - even though there are no
statistics that the treatment will help us get better (by being able 
to stop pulling our hair). 

I wouldn't go to an Unexperienced Therapist for TTM until you educate
yourself. (Unless you feel like you need to go for depression, anxiety
or stress.) And even then I would make it clear that you don't want to
work on the TTM, just the anxiety. Meds can help immensely for those
things, and it doesn't mean you have to stay on them forever. If you go
for TTM, without educating yourself first, you will most likely waste a
lot of money without any progress. 

Once you educate yourself, you can search for a therapist who is willing
to learn about TTM. Just because they currently treat other people with
TTM doesn't mean they are using the correct approaches! You can ask if
they have ever helped anyone recover, who then did not need their
services anymore! If they are offended by those types of questions that
is a good sign that they can't help you. 

If you are going to pay a lot of money only to learn to accept your
condition instead of actually stopping your hairpulling, I think you
have a right to be clear on what the treatment will most likely do for
you. 

There are also experienced TTM Docs who will do consultations with
unexperienced therapists. I wouldn't do that until you are ready. The
info to help you do that is in the first two books. 

(Books are listed in the Book Review Email)
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