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knb comments on Open Thread: March 2010 - Less Wrong
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TL;DR: Help me go less crazy and I'll give you $100 after six months.
I'm a long-time lurker and signed up to ask this. I have a whole lot of mental issues, the worst being lack of mental energy (similar to laziness, procrastination, etc., but turned up to eleven and almost not influenced by will). Because of it, I can't pick myself up and do things I need to (like calling a shrink); I'm not sure why I can do certain things and not others. If this goes on, I won't be able to go out and buy food, let alone get a job. Or sign up for cryonics or donate to SIAI.
I've tried every trick I could bootstrap; the only one that helped was "count backwards then start", for things I can do but have trouble getting started on. I offer $100 to anyone who suggests a trick that significantly improves my life for at least six months. By "significant improvement" I mean being able to do things like going to the bank (if I can't, I won't be able to give you the money anyway), and having ways to keep myself stable or better (most likely, by seeing a therapist).
One-time tricks to do one important thing are also welcome, but I'd offer less.
I recommend a counseling psychologist rather than a psychiatrist. Or, if you can manage it, do both.
I used to be just like this, I actually put off applying for college until I missed the deadlines for my favorite schools, just because I couldn't get myself started. Something changed for me over the last couple years, though, and I'm now really thriving. One big thing that helps in the short term is stimulants: ephedrine and caffeine are OTC in most countries. Make sure you learn how to cycle them, if you do decide to use them. Things seem to get easier over time.
Why? (The psychiatrist is the one who's a psychologist but can also give you meds, right?)
Caffeine seems to work at least a little, but makes me anxious; it's almost always worth it. Thanks. Ephedrine is illegal in France.
ETA: Actually, scratch that. I tried drinking coffee and soda when I wasn't unusually relaxed, and the anxiety is too extreme to make me more productive.
(Note: I'm a psychology grad student, my undergrad work was in neuroscience and psychology.)
Psychiatrists (in America at least) are usually too busy to do much psychotherapy. When they do, get ready to pay big time. It just isn't worth their extremely valuable time and in any case, it isn't their specialty.
You don't want to see a clinical psychologist because they treat people with diagnosable psych. disorders. You may have melancholic depression, but it sounds like you just have extreme akrasia issues. If you go to a psychiatrist first, they'll likely just try to give you worthless SSRIs.
Psychologists are for that reason often cheaper. In fact, a counseling psychologist in a training clinic can be downright affordable, and most of the benefits of therapy seem to be independent of the therapist anyway.
Also, it would be worth checking for data on the effectiveness of a psychiatric drug before spending on it; many may be ineffective or not worth the side effects.
Is Crazy meds as good as it looks?
Absolutely. Just reading it made my day! Hilarious. (And the info isn't bad either. )
And if you live in Australia can sometimes be free!
A psychiatrist is someone who went to medical school and specialized in the brain. A psychologist is someone who has a PhD in psychology. Putting "clinical" before either means they treat patients; "experimental" means what it sounds like. There's some crosstraining, but not as much as one might imagine. ("Therapist" and "counselor" imply no specific degree.)
Some common misconceptions:
Counseling Psychology is a very specific degree program within psychology. A psychologist can have a PhD, a PsyD, (doctor of psychology degree), or in some fields, even a masters.
Psychiatrists also don't specialize in "the brain" (that's neurology), they specialize in treating psychiatric disorders using the medical model.
See the psychiatrist first. Your problems may be caused by some more physiological cause, such as a problem with your thyroid, and a medical doctor is more likely to be able to diagnose them.