# Ever had a Therapist that had SA?



## Monroee (Aug 26, 2009)

I've read many stories on here of people that were frustrated by their therapists because they don't seem to understand their SA. And an obvious answer to that would be to see a therapist that had SA before and therefore could understand the insecurities of someone who currently has it. I'm currently at a crossroads of where I want to go with my life, and I considered studying psychology so I could help others with SA. I read posts about therapists laughing at their patients because they didn't understand how someone could fear walking past people. Maybe it would help if a therapist had experience in the same fears and mindset. 

What do you guys think, and would you feel more comfortable and willing to see a therapist that experienced the same fears before? Or have you seen someone that had it before?


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## arth67 (Aug 6, 2009)

Ive known several psychologists who had anxiety with panic attacks and studied psychology in an effort partly to help themselves recover.
they duly became psychologists, specilaising in anxiety, but never got around to curing themselves

in other words they still obviously had anxiety, phobias and panic attacks but were earning a living in trying to cure others

a therapist will often admit to having "been there" but I suspect many still are there, being unable or perhaps unwilling to cure themselves

IMO some anxiety and panic attack sufferers find it all enjoyable and addictive:boogie


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## Emerald3 (Sep 17, 2009)

I don't know if mine has/had SA, but he has said he overcame a fear of public speaking. He managed to give a speech to a group of 70 people about homelessness, and beforehand he'd never have been able to speak in front of a handful of people. One of the reasons of how he overcome it was exposure to public speaking and having a personal interest in the topic i.e he was so passionate about the topic of homelessness, the fear of speaking just decreased.


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## bookscoffee (Oct 10, 2009)

I didnt have a therapist that didnt understand my SA but one that told me I said things that I know I didnt, she told me that I said I would kill myself if I moved in with my sister - I know for a fact, because I wrote everything I said down, that I didnt say anything like that but she was insistant, needless to say I didnt go back to her.


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## BlueBamboo (May 8, 2007)

I think it could be both a blessing and a curse... good to have someone that understands it, but it could also be bad if they haven't 100% gotten over it, or if they start to think that your experience with it is exactly like their experience, and you should recover in the same way at the same rate that they did, and so on.

I don't think you need to have it yourself to understand it, you can probably do quite well with studying it extensively, talking to a lot of people with it and listening to what they have to say, talking to people who specialize in treating it, and so on. There are lots of psychological problems out there and you can't have had them all. I think the biggest hurdle would be learning that it's not exactly like, say, a fear of spiders, where mainly exposure therapy is used.


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## tutliputli (Feb 22, 2009)

No, but I'm hoping to become a Clinical Psychologist, and I have fairly severe SA. It seems that a lot of those with mental health problems themselves go into the profession. I've actually seen job advertisements stating that having had personal experience of mental illness is desirable.


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## paradox002 (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm doing the tape series by Thomas A Richard from Phinex Arizona 
and he had SA for over 20 years and really knows what he's talking about in his tape series 
how to overcome SA


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