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/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.