It is a very maladaptive way to change feelings or to combat numbness. Basically most cutters haven't learned other effective coping mechanisms and need treatment. These folks do deserve compassion. (I found it pretty funny though. Maybe it rings up the price of a therapy session)

Ha! I'm jealous!

You are right about it being a long time, but the time will pass anyway. If it is your passion, don't let anything stand in your way. No one can ever take your education away.

@mr creepy. Just Fyi. For psychiatry, you need an md. With a psy.d, it is clinical psychology. My personal bias is getting a phd if you are going into the clinical psych field. More options. Depends on what you are into. If you go the psychiatry route, you make more money, but you spend a lot of time doing 20 minute session med checks. See a lot of folks seeing 3 people an hour all day long. I at least get them for 50 minutes. Good luck though! You are obviously into helping people.

It's a really good therapy. You'll be surprised at the speed and the change. Congratulations on your bravery; it will be worth it. Best of luck!

Naw, she'll only be able to sue for half of his no money.

^^^ding, ding, ding. We have a winner. Prolonged Exposure therapy. (Also coginitive processing therapy, and EMDR). That being said, I used to teach a therapy class that was very experiential. I'd tell them in the beginning that if discussing traumatic stuff was too difficult, they weren't ready for the profession and should drop the class, but I'd help them get help if they wanted.

Well, I would question my mental health too if I continued this conversation. Think what you will, I've had enough fun for one night. I have to go to bed so I can some how muddle through my day of providing ineffective and substandard care. I sure wish that DSM 5 thingy had more pictures. I'd at least be able to color while being oblivious to nuances. In all seriousness, it is difficult to hear casual references like that after trying help a family with a six year old pick up the pieces following a mom's psychotic break.

Being a educated mental health provider (assuming a Ph.D and having a NPI number counts :)), I use the DSM 5 criteria for diagnostic purposes (see below). It just gets frustrating to hear medical terms bandied about with reckless abandon. It's overused as well. Sort of like people saying "literally" for exaggeration purposes.
A. Characteristics of Symptoms: TWO OR MORE of the following, each present for a significant portion of time during a one month period (or less if successfully treated):
Delusions
Hallucinations
Disorganised speech (e.g. frequent derailment or incoherence)
Grossly disorganised or catatonic behaviour
Negative symptoms, ie affective flattening, alogia or avolition
B. Social/Occupational Dysfunction: for a significant portion of time since the onset of the disturbance, one or more major areas of functioning, such as work, interpersonal relations or self-care
C. Duration: continuous signs of the disturbance persist for at least six months.