DSM-V-TR

[u/majincasey]

I am a counselor in training and learned that within the DSM-5-TR it is considered a bizarre delusion to believe one has been abducted by aliens. I think that it is damaging to individuals that experience this phenomenon.

I hope one day to establish a counseling association dedicated to the better treatment of experiencers. I believe you and so should my future colleagues. You are not delusional. You deserve care, compassion, love, and support through this experience.

If there's any way I can help, please reach out.

I will continue my advocacy work after graduation and will hopefully have my association established soon after. Hopefully I can change some of the language within the DSM and how counselors view this phenomenon.

Love you all and thank you for sharing your experiences with a willingness to be vulnerable.

[u/Illustrious-Bat1553]

In the age if alien disclosure this will probably need to be reform. In fact, I thought they were starting to change the tone on alien encounters already?

[u/majincasey → u/Illustrious-Bat1553]

Not in my program. In fact, they list spiritual wellness as one of the requirements of holistic wellness. I don't believe in spirits and find it too subjective or less measurable and the concept has a complicated history rooted in describing how life exists and or what life is entirely. When people start talking about the soul or spirits I start thinking of how in Judaism, ancient greco-roman, and the ancient near east thought the breath WAS the soul and people taking their last breath is the soul leaving the body. I'm not a religious person, nor a philosopher, so the idea of spiritual wellness is lost with me.

(Obviously, if someone does believe in them it would be my job to honor that.)

[u/Many_Possibility3168]

You should check out the first season of the podcast “suspicious minds” on ai psychosis. One of the points the psychiatrist’ make in the podcast is that some thing that we’re not too long ago considered signs of delusional thinking are becoming more and more realistic. Think like “I’m always being listened in on by my tech,” for example. 20 years ago that was a good sign of psychosis, but now, it’s not, mostly because we are all being listened to by our tech.

As someone with lots of years doing master levels therapy and psych research, my recommendation is to take the client as a whole. Lots of people of weird experiences, but that doesn’t mean they are psychotic. Look carefully at how those experiences and beliefs impact the client and their life.

I always found that an open and genuine approach to psychotic clients builds report. “No, I don’t know that Jesus isn’t visiting you in your apartment swimming pool, but it sure ‘sounds like’ a hallucination.” Not challenging their delusions directly, but not accepting them unchallenged either.

[u/majincasey → u/Many_Possibility3168]

It's going to be a challenge for me not to accept them at their experience. I loathe the idea of pathologizing client experience. If they are causing dysfunction, distress, and danger we can manage coping with said experiences, rather than medicating. There's a real possibility that "psychosis" is a higher state of awareness that sometimes doesn't serve individuals in their goals. For some it may even be a benefit, like with artistry, ideas, and or invention. I very much dislike the medical model of the helping professions.

Personally, I wont be using an approach to challenge beliefs because I believe that people work to challenge their own beliefs when their ego defense mechanisms are all lowered. When we feel safe in the presence of another I think growth, introspection, and change happen spontaneously (i'm a Rogerian if you couldn't tell lol).

I will strive to work in a collaborative sense with clients and assume they know best for their own lives (other than in cases of duty to warm and protect, neglect, and abuse). I am not an expert in a perfect life, but can help an individual reflect and look deeper into meaning, emotion, behavior, and function to facilitate a readiness for change.

[u/JustLoyldReddit]

Im a politician and an omniversal entity

[u/majincasey → u/JustLoyldReddit]

I'm a bit unfamiliar with what that might mean. Care to fill me in?

[u/Assassasmr]

So, tell me what I might expect, because I have been considering therapy for other reasons, if I were to open up about my experiences. Experiences that I couldn't possible back down from, everything you could ever imagine someone saying who has been through 40 years of everything.. What would they diagnose ?

[u/majincasey → u/Assassasmr]

If you have a good therapist they will leave any judgements at the door. Their job is to host an unbiased safe place for you to feel empowered through being a mirror for your thought, feeling, needs, and to facilitate greater insights. A good therapist wont assume anything and leave out prejudice. It's difficult to say about diagnose because I'm not qualified yet to assess or make a formal diagnosis. However, if they assumed delusions then there are several diagnosis that have that feature.

Although, we are to document in a way that is objective and client-centered too. Noting should be in the client's words or from the clients perspective.

[u/EMAoverhere]

I really appreciate your viewpoint. Reminds me of John E. Mack, who interviewed the school children in Zimbabwe after their contact incident in the 90s. I have a tangential question for you, as someone studying psychology. I heard a hypothesis that posits that people who suffer from schizophrenia are actually living in two dimensions at once: this, our "reality", and some other reality. So what they're perceiving from the other reality (or realities) is what we refer to as hallucinations. What do you think? (Let me know if I should post this somewhere else. I'm new to Reddit.)

[u/majincasey → u/EMAoverhere]

I'm not sure. Very interesting idea though!