US, you're going through such a hard time, you've had so much come at you over the last few years. Some of it was the result of your own mistakes, and some of it was circumstances out of your control. I know that it's scary and it feels like it won't get better, but you've survived so much and thrived. I believe that you have the capacity to truly achieve equality, happiness, hope and courage, and every time you've gone down, you come back a bit better. We all fail (ourselves and our loved ones) at times, and we all want to see you live as the best version of yourself. Keep growing, you can do it!
I was going to get a therapist for my son, I already stopped seeing my therapist because of how expensive it is. When I asked the therapist if she took my insurance she said no, so I asked how much it was per session and she said $80.00, and I was like "Wow, ok, well that's our copay per session so I guess it doesn't matter."
Lol, with my insurance, $80.00 is my copay per visit. He's going to see someone, but regardless of what I do, it is $80.00 per visit. I just found it funny that the cost with or without insurance is the same.
Because most therapists literally commit insurance fraud for a living. That $80.0 magically turns into an $800 when the insurance company is willing to foot the bill.
I’ve seen a few therapists in my life and while I’ve been lucky for them to have all helped me the way I needed when I needed it, its definitely a pocess for a lot of people. I always think its worth taking your first session to evaluate whether they’re helpful. Not every therapist is good at dealing with every kind of person or with every kind of issue.
It really depends on what kind of therapist you go to. Most of the run-of-the-mill therapists won't actually give you advice when you ask for it, instead they'll turn the question back on you and ask what you think you should do. They're more of just a sounding board that asks probing questions to get you to think about shit in a new light
If you're looking for a therapist that's more like a life coach that will give you advice and strategies on how to better your situation after you've already gone through the process of unpacking your trauma or whatever, then what you want is a Cognitive Behavioral Therapist
Learning this difference was a game changer for me
Yeah the sad thing is we need insurance for the extreme scenarios.
But for the vast majority of people, insurance premiums/copays/deductibles end up costing WAY more than you would've just paid for all of your medical costs if you paid out of pocket without insurance.
No but you can't find a therapist you can find an escort. I literally called every therapist near me and only 25% called back and of them only 2 actually made appointments and zero actually held due to them flaking.
I haven't hired an escort but I bet they show up and call back.
Side note Dr. G from youtube has a practice near me and costs $400 an hour cash but I couldn't even get an appointment so that should hopefully explain a bit of the reality of American mental health care at this point. Even if you have money you can't get help so you hire an escort.
I also struggled to get an appointment at speech therapists near me. Then I got a referral from my primary care physician, which made all the difference. I suggest you try that if you haven’t already.
You should go to an annual physical. It’s not an artifact of our insurance. In my last annual physical, my doctor observed I had a heart issue that I hadn’t noticed. It’s preventative medicine 101.
As I said, it isn't a thing here (Australia). It isn't an appointment I can make on my local doctor's system.
I googled it and apparently check ups are considered to be incorporated into standard doctors visits here - because seeing a doctor is free, most people will go a few times a year anyway.
It’s the same thing. I don’t normally need to go to a checkup for years because I don’t get sick, so this is an opportunity to do preventative care… if you get sick a lot and already go to your doctor multiple times for year, great.
There are countless reasons to shit on US healthcare, but free annual preventative care ain’t one of them.
Also, if your PCP doesn't help or you don't have one I'd suggest checking out public health departments and community resource centers. They can also help you get your foot in the door for needed services. They also tend to take on interns through grad school and while you may not be getting direct services from someone who's in the field- those interns are desperate to do a good job and closely supervised. Even if it isn't a speech therapist interns they have the resources needed to help get you where you need to go through networking and such.
I really hope you aren’t serious. Escorts are not certified therapists and have no formal training. They also break the cardinal rule of therapy (it’s unethical to fuck your patient). Replacing actual therapy with a person you pay you have sex with and tell you what you want to hear is an awful idea regardless of how trash the medical and insurance system is in the US.
Better something than nothing... welcome to the American mental health system. I'm not saying I'd do that or I'd recommend that. I'm saying that therapists are unreliable and unattainable for most so people make alternate plans. People use drugs to medicate mental health symptoms because they can't get the right therapy from a qualified medical expert.
No one should hire a hooker for mental health care... they're hiring someone to help them not be alone. That's valid.
No that is %100 not true. Taking a harmful action (using an uncertified untrained escort for therapy and sex) can be absolutely worse than if you hadn’t done anything at all. The implication that no harm can come from unhealthy coping mechanisms is ridiculous.
Not all therapists are unreliable. Many of my friends and millions of people worldwide have benefited massively. I’m sorry you had a bad experience but it’s in no way indicative of the experience most will have.
If you have no one in your life that can stand you without being paid paying someone to be less alone isn’t going to fix that. Therapy go get to the root of why that is would be the best option.
You know how I know you didn't read the main post?
Taking a harmful action (using an uncertified untrained escort for therapy and sex)
If you had read the point of this post you'd see he didn't fuck her or do anything sexual. So you're just ranting about a perceived violation. You have a negative perception of sex workers which is your prerogative but not true because you believe it to be so. Some are good some are bad. That's life.
This entire thread is about a guy who did it successfully thus proving your theory to be wrong. Just because you don't like something doesn't mean it's bad.
If you have no one in your life that can stand you without being paid
paying someone to be less alone isn’t going to fix that. Therapy go get
to the root of why that is would be the best option.
I don't know why you're projecting your problems onto me. I don't have those problems and I eventually found a therapist who isn't bad at running a business and doesn't flake. I don't disagree with your premise of "therapy is best" but I vehemently disagree that being alone is a valid choice for the lonely.
Just because it makes you unhappy doesn't make it wrong.
You know how I can tell you didn’t read my post? I didn’t say the specific man in this story fucked the escort. But that is generally one of the major if not the only major reason someone hires an escort so when I was pointing out they are a poor substitute for therapy I mentioned it generally as a thing that does happen and makes them a poor substitute for therapists.
My negative view is of using untrained sex workers as therapists and anyone claiming to provide therapy having sex with their patients. I’d personally like sex work decriminalized. But my personal views aren’t what’s at play here, you bad experience with therapy has you miffed someone disagrees with you and so you’re lashing out at me personally.
This entire thread is about a man who ran off 7 sex workers before he found one willing to be paid to tolerate him and had one friend who eventually stopped charging him to see him every so often. We don’t know what issues we causing no person to stand him without payment and whether or not they were resolved. Somehow I doubt his stutter made him so repellant. This story isn’t even verifiable as true. In no way is this an example of successful use of an escort for therapy.
No one said “you specifically have those problems dude” it’s “you” as in “people”. How do you get off telling other people they don’t read and then get this personally offended and worked up at claims no one made and statements that weren’t personally directed at you lmao?
The choice isn’t “pay an escort” or “resign yourself to being alone forever” and I never said it was. There are things you can do between those two things and speech therapy is cheaper than a mid class escort in many places not to mention easier to get an appointment with because it’s not actively illegal in a lot of areas.
Having someone to talk to is different from speech therapy.
*Friend started stuttering after head injury. Only got a little better after 2 months of speech therapy. A bit more than a year passed by. Between not working cause injury and then the pandemic, he pretty much just kept to himself. Then he started playing Among Us with gaming friends (using a voice chat app). Took 2 weeks to pretty much fix stutter.
$1000 vs FREE (unless you count the $25 for new headphones AFTER getting better) PLUS mental health boost
Lol I’m imagining this guy stuttering the whole game until someone calls him sus and he goes on 5 minute rant/explanation with zero stutter about why he could not possibly be the imposter.
Now I’m laughing even harder imagining him reversing the roles on someone while interrogating them. “Bitch did I stutter? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE LIGHTS WERE OUT”
Honestly, not finding how this is wholesome. Maybe a sliver of decency.
The man struggled from a speech impediment that made him feel like he was ostracized from normal society. Literally nobody else in his life or within his vicinity would give him the time of day or care.
Now, hear me out. I am in no way putting down sex work and those who do it. However, we can all agree that being an escort is viewed as being on the edges of society.
Society has ignored and pushed him to the side. So he felt the only way he could be treated with any shred of normalcy was to pay for the time of another person pushed towards the edges of society and largely ignored.
This man had to pay another person money to be treated like a decent human being.
Great that the girl still meets up with him every now and then. Sure.
Yet the story isn't wholesome in any way to me. It's deeply depressing. I can only think of a lonely man walking through his world hoping someone, anyone, would speak to him. He lives his life dreaming of the next time he can meet with her. Because at least that day he will feel human.
It only isn’t wholesome if you view the beginning of his story as the same as the end. In the beginning he was outcasted, but at the end he made a friend and improved upon his disability. It’s the ending that’s wholesome, and you would never get there without the sad beginning.
Yup! OP even mentioned the guy no longer has to pay for the company, it's no longer OPs profession and OP willingly meets up with the guy. Sure the circumstances which started it weren't typical, but the continuation without monetary expectation is what makes it wholesome
There have been studies that showed there is no real difference between a guy they pull off the street and an actual therapist when it comes to talk therapy. Its basically a placebo. In the US if this guy went to a therapist, odds are about 50-50 they would have just loaded him up on as many medication as insurance would pay for until he stopped complaining, and he'd still have the stutter.
There is a Simpson joke on this exact thing. Marge told Bart how expensive therapy is and when you get older you can find women who are willingly to talk to you, for an hour.
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u/Ravenonthisicedearth 26d ago
Is speaking therapy more expensive than renting an escort? :o
Also! Really wholesome c: