Originally Posted by
Justincredible 
Went to group therapy this morning and it was great. Doing much better today. Met another person in recovery who is going through a similar situation as me. I think one of the keys for me is sharing openly and honestly about what I am going through. This place is awesome for that, I actually recommended this website when asked how I was managing my recovery.
In regards to meeting one on one, I have finally been assigned a therapist, or psychiatrist. I am a little unsure if a psychiatrist is the right person to see. I will keep my appointment, but am still going to see a dedicated psychologist to see if that is a better fit. I will just keep trying and find what fits for me.
I went out shopping for myself bought some new clothing, fixed my hair. Something I haven't done in awhile, and it felt good! I have to regain the identity that I feel I relinquished, and focus on self care and becoming my own man. What a journey, a rollercoaster indeed.
Glad to hear all this.
On the psychiatrist, yes if they have the typical medically-oriented training only, they might not be as competent in psychotherapy as a clinical psychologist, for example. But it depends on everyone's individual training and experience. Some psychiatrists do take on a lot of extra training in therapy, and I heard of people who first got psychology degrees and then went to medical school and completed psychiatry residency. I know a couple psychiatrists that started out as such mostly, but then got interested in psychotherapy a lot and completed a lot of relevant training. In fact, one of my best friends is someone like that, pretty top notch and competent in both areas (that are obviously overlapping); he also has some incredible intuitive sense for the human condition and behavior. It's worth asking them about these in your first consultation (I would at least). But in the end of the day, what matters most is what happens in your first hand experience, how you feel working with them. I'm personally someone who's usually less interested in formal pedigrees and much more in someone's knowledge, experience, and ability to do the thing.
Good luck onward!
