I Introduced my self and talked about a touchy topic "therapy". I explained what I think personally is a good general guideline to find a therapist for anyone because not just any therapist works, you got to do your research. Tune in every Sunday for a new episode!
New Episodes every Sunday!
Hey, my name is Seth Michael Foster and this is the first episode is going to introduce myself and give you background on this podcast because there is hope for everyone, including me! And as a person living with bipolar 1 disorder, it can be difficult to believe me that “you can get help” or that “you can get better”, well I am here to tell there is! But first things first I got to get the legal things out of the way so:
“As a disclaimer to all people who listen to this podcast and this episode and future episodes, I am not a doctor, nor am I a psychologist, or a medical professional in any way, shape, or form, anything I say on here should not be taken in as medical advice. If you have an actual emergency please seek help from your local authorities. I also am actually diagnosed with Bipolar 1 by a psychologist I have been seeing since I was five years old and still to this day (and yes he has a Ph.D. and other degrees) but the things I talk about on this podcast are my own experiences, and may not be similar to your experiences if you think you may have Bipolar 1 or any other type of mental health issue or concern please talk to your appropriate medical professionals to discuss it. Lastly, some of the things I talk about may be triggering to some audiences, they are my personal experiences and I will give appropriate heads up and warnings, so viewers discretion is advised in every episode even on the episode where it may not be graphic content story-wise but it may cover controversial topics. Again, I am here just to share my story, and the struggles I went through from beginning to the present, and how I coped, how I struggled, and how I found hope.”
Now that we have that legal disclaimer out of the way we can proceed, also I forgot to mention I will have that same exact disclaimer every episode at the very beginning, and it will be the first thing you before the podcast begins.
So, now that today’s topic is about “therapy” and I know therapy is controversial in mainly younger people, and even some adults, but I was raised growing up to open up and talk about my feelings to people who are important to me, and even to a therapist. And some people say that “ therapy doesn’t work” and that maybe that case on extreme disorders, but generally speaking I think it does work. But there are some conditions to having therapy work. I think you need to have a type of therapy that works best for the type of issues you are having, and also a therapist that doesn’t clash with your personality. And what I mean by that is, if you are a blunt person and can handle a therapist being blunt or so-called “tough love” then great that may work for you. But if you are the kind of person who needs the truth but just worded in an easier way to handle or process then that my work as well.
Also, a feeling of trust and rules, and expectations need to be established with your therapist, and I mean by that ask what privacy or confidentiality laws do you have to protect you and the things you talk about (as a minor that’s a little trickery because technically your parents are legally your guardian or parent, therefore, can access your records in some extreme situations but not all situations). Expectations, ask your therapist how does the method of your type of therapy you are doing works, and what to expect, and it helps to do your research after your therapist tells you so you can gather even more information. Also, rules if your therapist doesn’t allow certain words or phrases, then respect that, and tell them what makes you feel comfortable or uncomfortable as well because people can’t read your minds and a good therapist will respect you if you tell them that. Lastly, most people don’t know this but this is usually in most serious cases, for example, you say “ you are going to hurt yourself or someone else” then by law, in that case, they could lose their therapist license if they do not notify the appropriate authorities, so they will call the appropriate authorities, but doesn’t mean you shouldn’t tell them because you don’t want to go to mental health hospital, they can actually be very helpful in most cases, and as a person, myself having been to one three different one (only reason why each one was different was that they treated different disorders) but they can be helpful, and you can learn a lot.
So that concludes today’s episode of my life with bipolar 1, tune in next week for every Sunday for a new episode!