If i tell my councilor will i go to jail for cutting myself? i want to get help for this but i dont want to be in trouble and any time i bring it up with my doctor (along with my depression) she makes me feel like im going to be in touble for doing it and doesnt help me. On a side note i am getting help via seeing a phychiatrist but they wont listen to me because every time they ask if im depressed i say yes and they say can i prove it and i just want to show my scars and let it be delt with but i cant... help?
Answer:
Yes you sure can if and only IF they see you doing it buddy! I have 22 scars and spent time in BP2 which is the psych ward here and I am currently on medicare and disability so I know all about this believe me buddy and I got my disability on the first shot from cutting so deep and so much!
You can only get in trouble if you tell your pdoc that you are thinking of it right at the time and you already have scars on you bud! You just have to cut like two weeks before you go in and then they will ask you? Do you feel like cutting now, and say NO! They will say; Well when did you cut last? You say about two weeks ago and then you will not get locked up but I shouldnt be saying this, but oh well its the truth and you have to cut around the pdocs in order to stay out in public and that is sad really to hide it and have to chose a certain time to relieve your pain, but such is life and life is very tough and the MIND is the most powerful weapon of all, and when left alone it can bring out your inner demons and really take over your actions and GOD forgive us for we know you can not be everywhere at once, AMEN! Thanks I really enjoyed this, MIKEY/PUGS/PA
It depends where you cut. say your finger lightly no, your finger off yes. same goes with your head, off is very very bad.
Good grief! of course you won't go to jail for cutting yourself. Don't listen to that nonsense. This kind of behaviour has a name SIB, self injurious behavior. And it has underlying reasons that have to be addressed in order for you to get help. What you need is help from someone other then the useless adult that is suppose to be helping you now. You sound young, tell someone at school and then the proper community resources will be used to get you help. They should put you in contact with a therapist. Psychiatrist really only give out meds, they hardly help you work out issues.
Honestly, I can't guarantee you would be able to tell a school (I'm assuming it's a school one, anyways) counselor. I don't know where you live, but in some places, that might not go over well. Most likely nothing as serious as jail time. You might be better off telling a trusted friend or something, but that's really up to you.
Also, if your psychiatrist doesn't listen to you, you might want to get a new one.
There are several online communities for self-injurers, and they can be very helpful.
most people regard self injury as a disease. don't worry about getting in trouble -- focus more on getting help. start with your parents if you feel comfortable. make sure they realize you are wanting their support. most people think those who self injure are weird but i think everyone copes differently and that's how you choose to do it. some people smoke -- isn't that injuring their lungs?? right so i understand your need for what you are doing and although i myself have never done it i know if i did i would want everyone just to be supportive and not reprimand me. so make the point that you know that they don't understand why you do what you do but you need them to be supportive of you at the same time. not supportive of you cutting but supportive in general to help eliminate your desire to cut. try to isolate the feelings that give you that desire and go to people you love and trust when you have the desire. and although i'm a total stranger.. i am on messenger alot and you could always talk to me if i'm around.
i think what you are going through is very serious and can be very dangerous, but i understand you. please get over your fear of getting in trouble and focus on seeking out the help you need from your family and doctors.
Here in Cali, they can do a mandatory three day lockup in a mental institution for cutting if they feel you are going to do it more.
You absolutely will not go to jail for cutting yourself. Depending how bad the cuts are, you could be held in a hospital for a relatively short time (it depends where you live, but it's usually somewhere between 24-72 hours) if the doctors determine that you're an immediate danger to yourself. That would usually only happen if you're brought into the hospital with self-inflicted injuries that are severe enough to require medial attention and you express intent to hurt yourself again in the very near future. Usually even just needing a couple stitches wouldn't do it - this is things like someone hurts themself badly enough to need blood transfusions, surgery, or possibly just really a lot of stitches, and tells the doctor that they plan to serious injure or kill themself as soon as they're released, or they try to hurt themself while they're in the hospital, or that kind of thing. They can also hospitalize you if tell a doctor (or other health care professional) that you're planning to kill yourself, and you have a detailed enough plan that it seems likely that you're going to do it, but most places don't have the resources to hospitalize people for that even when they're allowed to.
If you tell your doctor or counselor that you've cut yourself in the past and even that you plan to do it again, but it's superficial enough cuts not to require professional medical attention, they wouldn't be allowed to lock you up for that even they wanted to. If you're still a minor, then your parents could have you admitted to a residental treatment program if necessary, but the vast majority of cutters are treated on an outpatient basis, and it really doesn't sound like there would be any reason that your doctors or counselor would recommend residental treatment. Mostly doctors and counselors would recommmend residential treatment for people who are a danger to themself, for some kids who are totally out of control and are refusing to cooperate with treatment and have been trying outpatient treatment for a long time without making any progress, or for people with a major mental illness (schizophrenia, some times of bipolar disorder, etc.) who are having trouble getting their illness under control with medication. From what you said, it sounds like you want to get help, you're not causing very severe or life-treatening injuries to yourself, and you're overall a reasonably "normal" cutter, so I very much doubt that residental treatment would even be discussed unless there's a lot more going on that you've said.
Legal matters aside, no one should be angry with you for cutting, especially at the point where you know that it's not a great thing to be doing and are asking for help to recover from it. I can't promise that everyone is going to react the way they should - parents are unpredictable, and not all doctors are as competent as they should be - but if anyone does get angry about it, it's because they don't know how to handle it, not because you deserve to get in trouble, and it'll blow over eventually and you'll be able to get real help. It's not a "bad" thing like lying or stealing are bad, it's only bad like having the flu is bad. That is, it's not your fault. It's a symptom of an illness (probably depression), and it's not something to get in trouble for any more than coughing or sneezing are. I do want to make clear that I don't mean to imply that cutting is a good thing (or even a neutral thing) - it is definitely something to try to avoid doing, it's just not something to feel guilty about or to get in trouble for.
It sucks that your doctor won't listen to you about it. She really should, but even though doctors learn a little bit about self-injury in medical school, they don't always understand it, and can still hold a lot of the common prejudices and misconceptions about it. I'm not sure exactly what you told your doctor or why you think you'll be in trouble, but if you were trying to bring it up without really saying anything (like kind of letting her see your scars and hoping she'll start the conversation, or that kind of thing), then most likely she'd notice but not say anything about it because she wouldn't know that you want to talk about it and wouldn't want to make you uncomfortable (especially given that you're already seeing a psychiatrist).
The psychiatrist would probably be willing to listen if you told him/or about the cutting, but if they're asking you to prove you're depressed they probably wouldn't handle cutting very well (unless they already know or suspect you cut and are trying to get you to talk about it by asking you to 'prove' you're depressed, although if they are then they probably don't know a heck of a lot about SI because many cutters would then feel that they have to cut, and have to keep cutting, in order to prove they're depressed and validate their feelings to the outside world, which is obviously a bad thing, and probably not at all relevent to anything you wanted to know).
A counselor (or psychologist, therapist, etc.) would generally be a better person than a doctor or psychiatrist to talk to about it. Of course there are plenty of medical doctors who would be very sympathetic and helpful and plenty of counselors who aren't very good at dealing with self injury, but in general counselors are a lot more likely than doctors to really pay attention to you and not seem impatient or in a hurry to just find the right treatment and move on. Psychiatrists are obviously going to (on average) be better with mental health issues than other doctors are, but they're still medical doctors. Medical doctors are usually going to be more interested in finding the right treatment (usually medication) as quickly as possible and moving on, whereas counselors and therapists are there to listen to you and talk with you for a longer time with a less definite goal (as in, they're trying to go through a checklist of specific symptoms). Most doctors schedule 15 minutes per patient whereas counselors or therapists usually schedule a full hour per patient unless there's a reason that it's better for the patient if it's shorter (usually half an hour).
So the point is that telling your counselor is a really good thing to do, and you don't need to be afraid of getting in trouble.
you wont get in trouble. They cant help you unless you tell them what is happening. if you leave it you will just make yourself worse and you will end up in hospital, at which point everyone will find out anyway. it may be tough to talk about it but remember you will feel a lot better in the end.
you might get sent to a mental institution/ward in the hospital depending on your situation
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment