Category: Childhood Trauma

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU HAVE NOTHING TO SAY TO YOUR PSYCHIATRIST? by Art Smukler, author and psychiatrist

by artsmuklermd, posted in Childhood Trauma, Psychiatry, Self Examination

I’m sitting in my psychiatrist’s office and my mind’s a blank. Nothing in there.

After a minute of silence I say, “It’s costing a fortune to just sit here. I have nothing to say.”

The doctor nods, not in an unfriendly way, but also not very helpful.

“Maybe you’re just sitting there thinking about lunch; or napping with your eyes open?” I laugh, but it comes out a little too high-pitched. The sound of my wimpy laugh really annoys me. I blurt out. “What a great way to make a living. I do all the work and you get the money.”

“What work are you doing?” The doctor asks with a wry smile.

“What work? Well maybe I’m not doing anything, but you’re still getting paid.” Now the doctor thinks he’s a real comedian. Next he’ll be auditioning to MC the Oscars.

“You’re pretty angry this morning. What’s going on?”

“I don’t like you today. There’s an arrogance, a kind of power you have over me. Who do you think you are?”

Silence. A quizzical expression is on the doctor’s face.

I glance out the window at the sky. I don’t feel like looking at the son-of-a-bitch.

Finally I say, “You know my insurance pays almost nothing for this. It all comes out of my own pocket. Obamacare, Oshmamacare, certainly isn’t helping me!”

The doctor nods, like he agrees.

“Screw them! The idiots in Washington. I’m furious!”

The doctor nods again.

“Shit!” I shake my head and close my eyes.

“What?”

“I know why I’m so angry…”

Silence.

“I spoke to my father last night. He’s such an insensitive jerk! I told him how boring my job was, how I need to find something more fulfilling. He said, ‘I worked at the same job for thirty years.’ I ended the conversation and watched the Lakers. They even lost! Does he want me to be just as miserable as he is?”

“Maybe he didn’t understand how unhappy you are?”

“He was NEVER understanding. Ever! My mother says the same thing. It’s been going on my whole life.”

This is an example of how psychotherapy and the concept of transference works. The patient transfers angry feelings from a parent (or another important person, usually from the past) to the psychiatrist. Often it’s more complicated. The feelings aren’t so much on the surface, but hidden in the unconscious part off the mind. Sometimes a patient can be angry for weeks or months at his doctor, but eventually the original source of the anger is clarified. As the old wound is being relived in the transference, it can be examined in the safety of the psychiatrist’s office. Once it’s out there, and not being repressed, the issue can be dealt with in a more productive manner.

Any similar experiences or ideas about the unconscious or transference?

Don’t forget to subscribe to Inside the Mind of a Psychiatrist.

CHILDHOOD TRAUMA – WHAT IF YOU CAN’T REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED? by Art Smukler, author & psychiatrist

by artsmuklermd, posted in Childhood Trauma, Psychiatry, Self Examination, Writing

The mind is beyond sophisticated, but a little misguided. When events are too upsetting, it deposits the painful memory or feeling in a place that won’t disturb daily functioning, the “dreaded” unconscious.

Sounds great, right? If you don’t know it’s there, how can it bother you?

Wrong! The hidden memory can still send out subliminal signals that can cause nightmares, panic attacks, depression, anxiety etc. The symptoms are often so disturbing that you finally call your doctor who prescribes sleeping pills, tranquilizers or antidepressants so you’ll feel better. For a while, you do! Then it all creeps back.

“I’d like to refer you to a psychiatrist,” your doctor says.

“A shrink!” you say, more than a little insulted. I’m not crazy!

One tough, Italian guy, Joe Belmont, a 1st year medical student, who just happens to be the hero in my novel, Chasing Backwards, is in an even worse predicament. Whoever killed his mother and uncle are now trying to kill him, and the only way he can save himself and his girlfriend is to find a way into his own unconscious. The key to the whole mystery lies in his past, and Joe has no idea what lies buried in his own mind.

So unlike Joe, who has only days and himself to solve the problem, you can schedule a consultation with a psychiatrist or a therapist like a normal person. By now you recognize that it’s not just some intellectual or philosophical need. You’re sick and tired of feeling miserable and are ready to do what it takes. Figuring out what’s hidden in your unconscious is not psychobabble, as Joe in is his pre-psychological-minded days called the whole process. Psychotherapy is a treatment that can help make the unconscious problem conscious. Once you know what’s really going on, because now it’s out there for you to examine, you get the opportunity to deal with the issue and really feel better.

Please feel free to leave any comments and observations. If you were able to figure out what happened in your past, how did you do it? Did Joe Belmont’s experience mirror any of your own? Did understanding your own unconscious help you to have a better life?

Please don’t forget to subscribe to Inside the Mind of a Psychiatrist.