How do you get a victim who was molested by a child psychiatrist to trust a therapist as an adult? I am acquainted with several of Ayres' victims, and to a man they won't even entertain the thought of going near a shrink again.
pluckmemory,
I suppose I shouldn't be glib about this. I was molested badly in the boy scouts. For a long time, when I would drive past the scout headquarters here I would break out in anger and tears. I wouldn't want to have anything to do with the scouts. Seeing as scout in uniform on the street can still give me flashbacks.
BUT, the question of therapists is different. There are good therapists. In fact, I would recommend that anybody check out a therapist before seeing them. We can get recommendations from others. Get 3 good recommendations before seeing one. Also, a person can often arrange a preliminary interview.
Another approach is to see a
clinical psychologist. Here again, check references and reputation. But they are usually less expensive and they are often more people oriented. They don't have the "stigma" of being a psychiatrist.
A
psychiatrist has to have a medical degree as well as a specialty degree. This makes them rare and expensive. It also often means that they are often eccentric. Often a psychiatrist today specializes in prescribing meds and doesn't do much actual counseling. A
clinical psychologist on the other hand has a very different kind of training. They are often more human and understanding. They can't prescribe meds and so their realm is in counseling.
When I first embarked in my healing journey, I saw a psychiatrist who had written a well-known book in his field. He yawned at me when I was giving my story. I never saw him again. But the clinical psychologists have been uniformly good.
And it might be added that there are others who can counsel. Some of them are quite good. But watch out here. There are rabbis and pastors and ministers who can counsel. I have found that a pastor who is a great preacher is almost invariably a poor counselor. They require different skill sets. And of course some of these have also abused. That is the tragedy.
Allen
pufferfish