Good luck, Nora. We just interviewed an admin candidate, and he didn't ask a lot of questions of us, but he put forth his best qualities and expanded upon what was on his résumé by telling us funny stories.

It is Monday. I am not at work. Still in bed. Have one cat purring next to me. And kitten randomly hopping up and chasing my toes. I chalk this up as a good day so far. Must go to market to buy ingridients for chicken parm. Making dinner for hosts tonight.

I'm very reluctant to see a shrink. I expect I'd be all hostile and looking for manipulation and being contemptuous of jargon. Shrinks must hate people who have an awareness of how psychology is supposed to work. It's like magicians performing for other magicians, who are looking for how the trick is done.

It is Monday. I am not at work. Still in bed. Have one cat purring next to me. And kitten randomly hopping up and chasing my toes. I chalk this up as a good day so far

That sounds wonderful.

Shrinks must hate people who have an awareness of how psychology is supposed to work.

I don't think so--because if you really know about psychology, why be hostile? You are there by choice. It's because you want to work on something so the sooner you get cracking and the more tools you have, the better. A good therapist is your partner, not your boss or your manipulator. The stuff you already know about psychology is going to be a help to them in communication.

I think of you were there by court order or something, then you might be plenty hostile.

A good therapist is your partner, not your boss or your manipulator. The stuff you already know about psychology is going to be a help to them in communication.

Yep.

Me? Make a Joke To Cut The Tension Girl? With the diagnosis?

This. (It's amazing how much the jokes about bipolar can make people squirm.)

But some psychologists/therapists are very good. Examples: my mother is a genius at treating anxiety disorders, and her patients buy her thank-you presents. I saw a cognitive behavioural therapist a couple of years ago who had a big hand in making my life bearable again (it had stopped being so), and she had no problem with the fact that I possibly knew more CBT than she did - we worked together and it was great.

Having seen a fair few, though, I am also familiar with the less good ones.

I'm just being misunderstood so many times a day.

Ah, being part of the world of People Whose Brains Work Differently. Most of the time it's fantastic, but it can be exhausting as hell, too.

being part of the world of People Whose Brains Work Differently

I never got diagnosed or anything, but I know I'm hardly the poster girl for "normal", whatever that might be.

One day, when I'll trust another human to hack my mind, I'll do it just for the gigs. Right now, it's more on a survival-of-my-essence-please-walk-away-slowly thing than "hey, there's my mind and here's me exposed. What do you see there?".

Not sure what the commotion was about, but lots of half-laughing euw sounds, then one of them says, "OK, I don't want to go to Hell anymore."

Clarification would probably be disturbing.

Maybe they thought it might be fun in that Run With A Wild Crowd way... but then someone showed them the Pat Robertson clip.

I feel pretty hostile towards my therapist, and I'm there by choice. More or less. Just out of sheer my problems are mine, how dare anyone try to take them away, I think.

Then again, I definitely do not know how psychology is supposed to work, so.