Therapy?

[Redsteel]

Hey guys.

Long story short, I had a great therapist for a long time, but he passed away suddenly early this year.

I feel like my mental health has been spiraling really, really badly lately. As much as I hate the idea of talk therapy for this (because I don’t want to feel better about having issues, I want to not have issues), it would probably help at least somewhat with some of the worse intrusive thoughts and feelings.

Does anyone know how to find a good therapist for this? It feels incredibly awkward to go to some poor unsuspecting social worker or therapist and be like “My mental health is spiraling uncontrollably because my penis is (possibly unfixably) broken, so that’s all I want to talk about right now”, and I don’t want to have to talk in riddles or be vague so they don’t catch on it’s related to my penis. I don’t want to go into explicit detail obviously, but at some point the obvious problem has to be brought up by name

Any experiences, recommendations, anything on the mental health aspect of dealing with this? I need help but I don’t know who can help.

[John Dday]

Hi Redsteel, ...great name tag.

You have come to the right spot—Thank you for your post.

Nietzsche was the one who did the job for me. At a certain moment in his life, the idea came to him of what he called 'the love of your fate.' Whatever your fate is, whatever the hell happens, you say, 'This is what I need.' It may look like a wreck, but go at it as though it were an opportunity, a challenge. If you bring love to that moment--not discouragement--you will find the strength is there. Any disaster you can survive is an improvement in your character, your stature, and your life. What a privilege! This is when the spontaneity of your own nature will have a chance to flow.
Then, when looking back at your life, you will see that the moments that seemed to be significant failures followed by wreckage were the incidents that shaped the life you have now. You’ll see that this is really true. Nothing that is not positive can happen to you. Even though it looks and feels at the moment like a negative crisis, it is not. The crisis throws you back, and when you are required to exhibit strength, it comes.
~Joseph Campbell, Reflections on the Art of Living.

[CanGetItUpButNotOff]

I am in a not-too-dissimilar position. I have every reason in the world to conclude my ED is physical/vascular (age, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes, etc.) But I can't rule out some form of psychogenic ED also contributing to my issues, so I am seeking therapy - just to be sure. I have an appointment next week.

The idea of exposing all the gory details is not appealing. But I'd rather solve the problem than live with impaired sexual ability. For me, I'm not comfortable talking about my sexual deficiencies with a man so I choose a female therapist. I'm determined to just dive into my story without shame or embarrassment.

[Martin6469]

Redsteel: Have you noticed the Frank Talk Therapy announcement in the sidebar?

And if you want to share the details of your organic problems, someone may have a suggestion.

[BelleBite]

From personal experience, I would highly recommend checking out the Frank Talk Therapy.
Very humane, understanding and helpful.

[hennry711]

Hey, I get how hard it can be to open up about something like this. First off, I’m really sorry to hear about your therapist. Losing that kind of support is a huge hit, especially when things feel like they’re spiraling.

While finding the right therapist is definitely a step, I wanted to share something that helped me when my own mental health was out of control. I tried the PTSD cannabis treatment from Releaf (just in case someone from UK gets to read this), and it made a big difference for me. It helped calm the worst intrusive thoughts, reduced my anxiety, and even improved my sleep—things that no other treatments managed to do as well.

If you’re open to exploring it, I’d recommend looking into treatments like this:https://releaf.co.uk/conditions/psychiatric/ptsd-medical-cannabis-treatment-uk