★★★ (out of five)
Dina is super freaking nice! My first appointment with her did NOT go well for me, and it upset me greatly. But I went back and found someone who is so validating and wonderful. Did she give me good therapy? No. But she listened, she wrote everything down, and most importantly, she remembered. She didn't mix me up with other people, and she took genuine interest in what I was doing and how I was doing it. I could not have gotten through my illness as well as I did without her support.
I would have given her five stars, but a few things happened when I felt either a) she crossed some boundaries and b) did not give me any actual therapy. My preference is actual therapy. But what she did give me was support and validation for what I was going through and I am very very glad I did not give up on her.
Okay, the first session that wasn't good: I had just gotten into it with my awful neighbor who pushed me to watch her dog for her, for an entire month! I had to cancel on her, when I should have just said no. So, I talked to Dina about my inability (at the time) to tell people no, especially pushy people. And I may be wrong, but it felt like she was pushing me to say yes to a Thanksgiving meal from her church when I financially did not need it. I responded "Yeah, I don't need anything like that, but thank you so much for offering!" She refused to listen and asked again and I politely said "Yeah, we have enough food for Thanksgiving already, but thank you!" And then she pushed me to say yes again. I got really angry (not at her directly) because I felt like she was trying to see if I would outrightly say "no", even though I did actually say no already twice. Because my personal issue is not with not being able to say "no" outrightly to people, it's being able to say "no" at all, as I feel like I am letting someone down. I also fear them not listening to me and being pushy about me saying yes, which is exactly what it felt like she was doing to me. I almost didn't go back after that and I had planned on not doing it, as she never actually talked me about my inability to say no or maybe getting asking where the issue stemmed from, etc.
And her pushing my boundaries at our last meeting was when she asked me what my YouTube channel was and what my blog address was. And of course, because I have a problem saying no (something we never worked on...then again, we never worked on anything together, not once) and I just blurted them out, like an idiot. On my YouTube channel, I had talked about my experiences with bad therapists and I freaked the hell out and had to go and delete the video. Then I freaked out and deleted all my videos and now my channel is for something completely different. And then I almost freaked out and deleted my blog for the same reason, but I didn't. I just made a blog post addressing her directly, saying it was inappropriate for her to have asked me for these things and that was definitely crossing a boundary between patient and therapist, and it made me feel weird to feel that exposed. Those two things were a part of my personal life, and she had no right digging into either one. So, we started on a semi-bad note and ended on one (for me, she probably didn't think of these things were an issue).
She didn't help my anxiety by giving me tools to help myself the way a real therapist would, but she did validate what I was going through and supported me like an amazing friend (which now I know is 100% wrong), which in turn helped my anxiety at the time. I just think she blurred the lines lightly between therapist and friend in the end, when she should have stayed on the one side of it. But if I could choose to have her as my therapist again, I would definitely consider it. While maybe she's not good at mental health issues, she's definitely great when you need support and validation, which will help your mental health. She made me feel better about what was going on in my life and helped me in ways most therapists I had never did. So, I give her a solid four out of five stars and a B+ grade as a therapist. (though now I rated her at 3, see below)
Though.....she blocked me on Facebook (it's been almost a year since she's been my therapist) and I don't know why--she allowed me into her "special Facebook group" and then removed me and blocked me, before I could even go into it. So, I think I will remove my four stars, because I am not sure what's going on.
We did in person and video sessions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------★★ (out five)
I am a coworker of hers.
0 Comments