you have translated that quote out of context, or maybe i did not explain it enough. Why bolt the door after the horse has bolted? THEY ALREADY KNOW ABOUT MY ILLEGAL ACTIVITIES! Its too late!!!! That is why i am there to receive help, and in order to receive this kind of help someone is surely , at some point, going to write my activities down. You make it sound like i go around telling all and sundry what illegal activities i do. I have never been in trouble with the law for drugs......

In your previous post you told sort myself out using any and all means necessary.
Although i guess i couldve kept it to myself and not looked for any outside help. However this help has helped me to live a fairly normal exitance so far.

Anyhow my possible irrational view of this seems to have helped, granted my life ain"t perfect but its sure not bad. And as far as i have noticed this has not come back to haunt me over the years.

So i conclude that in your rational opinion DONT tell the shrink! As i said before i will give it some clear thoughts and i thankyou for taking the time to reply to my posts

Even in the United States, we have this thing called doctor-patient confidentiality. A psychiatrist has to keep the things told to them private. So some of the fears here seem paranoid to me.

Of course, you'll do what you deem best. I like the tree metaphor. This wind will now stop blowing

hug46,

Rationalization has nothing to do with irrationality/rationality. It's a very common psychological coping mechanism that all people use--typically to avoid reflection on the REAL motivation they have for doing something.

It IS a coping mechanism one should be especially aware of when it comes to "dangerous" activities (like doing illegal acts, or telling people about illegal acts you've done). Those are things for which it's worth being VERY CLEAR about one's motivations. When you do some things, you have to be ready to accept the burden that doing those things comes with.

...and, actually, in this thread you've said very little about what your real motivations are for wanting to tell your therapist about your use of psychedelics. The obvious (and generally acceptable) reason is because you don't want to lie to someone you're trying to connect with. But...that doesn't necessarily mean you have to tell ALL THINGS all the time--and indeed, one of the burdens of thwarting the law is that we have to be careful who we tell about what we do.

I wonder if you've thought about the real reasons WHY you want to tell the therapist these things (maybe because you're guilty about using psychedelics, and you want her permission?...there are really a LOT of possibilities besides just wanting to be honest).

...and why, for that matter, have you asked US? Is it because, if it turned out to be the wrong decision, you could blame it on us and not yourself? (just giving an example).

Being honest (and insightful) with ourselves about WHY we do what we do is very useful and important--and a habit of rationalization suggests a habit of not evenly facing our basic motivations for what we do.

A psychiatrist MUST make and keep notes on your case. Such notes become a part of your medical records. Medical records have certain "privacy" requirements--but certainly NOT the sort of "privacy" which means "nobody else will ever see them." Not hardly. If you think it means that, you are in for a surprise.

EDIT: Indeed, "use of drugs," and which drugs, is considered VITAL medical information. If you tell a doctor that you use certain drugs, and that doctor does NOT record that fact into your medical records, then the doctor has probably committed "malpractice" and could find him/herself in ethical/legal trouble.

Thankyou for explaining, for a while i thought you were implying i was some irrational nutter, perish the thought. As for me accepting the responsibilities of my various dangerous and illegal activities, i think i do that ok. If its something you can"t change???? I know what might happen in these situations and although i"d rather something bad doesn"t happen i just accept that it can. Its just being fatalistic (if i"ve got that meaning right). It can happen but if i spend my life stressing about it coming round the corner this is wasted energy for something that may, but may not, happen.
And in this case as i have reiterated the information is out there. I can"t pluck it back, what do you want me to do gently rock back and forth on my bed all night worrying about how many ways its going to fuck up my life. If that"s a rationalization problem i"ll take it, no worries.
But do you think i should discuss my problem with rationalization with the shrink?


I have to see her. If i am going to get any benefit from her advice wouldn"T it be better for her to have a clear picture of what is going on in my life? Good and bad. And yes i am sure there are lots of hidden possibilities but none that i am aware of , but if i have any moments of clarity i will let you know.




The reason i am asking this forum is that you are my only conduit for this type of question as i don"t really like to talk about my drug intake in public, funnily enough.

But if i decide not to tell her on your advice , swimfriend, and it all goes pear shaped and i do something crazy like blow my brains out i"m definitely blaming you!!!

If she doesn't bring it up, she's not a very good shrink, IMO. Be honest...don't you think that's sorta something that's going on with you?

Ya know, it's a simple as this: we're F***ED when we do stuff and don't know WHY we're doing it--especially if it's stuff that makes a mess of our lives.

I have an idea: Instead of telling her you use psychedelics, tell her that somebody told you that you seem to rationalize your behaviors a lot. See what she has to say about that...

No i think i"ll keep my rationalization to myself, after all it seems to work for me. The reasons why i was an addict have faded into the mists of time and i don"t use heroin and haven"t for some time, although i am on a reduction script .
I live in the south of France in a beautiful area where i run my own business. I"m happier than i have been for a long time. The reason i tell you this is because it is result of one of my dangerous activities, a motorcycle accident. When i awoke from my coma my value system had been given a reboot, a beautiful gift indeed.
The house was bought and paid for by the insurance payout from an insurance company that may have had various details of my nefarious activities.
I know quite a few people who, if they were in my position, would have spunked the cash on endless narcotic nirvana.
I didn"t. I challenged myself to sort it out, get out of a comfort zone and do something different.
Like i say if you think i"ve got a problem with rationalization, i repeat
GOOD I LIKE iT ,DON"T CURE ME
Do you have any personal experience of psychiatry?