Girl With Depression Stunned By Her Therapist's Odd Method Couldn't Have Been More Wrong

Therapists use a whole range of methods and techniques to treat mental health issues, like depression, anxiety or any other psychiatric disorder. Nowadays, people feel more comfortable to go into therapy and deal with their mental struggles. But there are a lot of professionals out there whose approaches are not that solid or effective, with many patients stepping out of the psychiatrist’s office negatively surprised by the nonsense they had witnessed.

The story about the therapist Paul who uses creative tactics to make his patients speak less negatively about themselves was posted by Tumblr user anarchetypal. The post went viral right away, with people praising this psychiatrist’s peculiar method and sharing their own experiences at the sessions.

Involving both counseling and medication, treatment for mental disorders can be tricky and it’s very important to come across a therapist who knows what they’re doing and who is open to apply different approaches, out-of-the-box methods to treat patients according to their individual needs.

This is anarchetypal’s story about her therapist Paul and the unusual but effective method to make patients stop saying negative things about themselves.

“I saw this post earlier about therapists and it reminded me of my old therapist paul, who in my opinion is one of the greatest men alive and who did not put up with my bullshit for even one second

anyway i go in to see paul one week in the summer of 2016, and i’m doing my usual bullshit which consists of me talking shit about myself, and paul is staring at me, and then he cuts me off and says that he’s got a new tool for helping people recognize when they’re using negative language, and gets up and goes over to his desk

and i’m like alright hit me with that sweet sweet self-help article my man, because i’m a linguistic learner and whenever paul’s like here i have a tool for you to use it’s pretty much always an article or a book or something

paul opens a drawer, takes something out, and turns back around. i stare.

i say, paul.

is that a nerf gun.

yeah, says paul.

i say, are you gonna shoot me with a nerf gun in this professional setting.

he happily informs me that that’s really up to me, isn’t it. and sits back down. and gestures, like, go ahead, what were you saying?</em

and i squint suspiciously and start back up about how i’m having too much anxiety to leave the house to run errands, like it was a miracle to even get here, like i’ve forgone getting groceries for the past week and that’s so stupid, what a stupid issue, i’m an idiot, how could i–

a foam dart hits me in the leg.

i go, hey! because my therapist just shot me in the leg. paul blinks at me placidly and raises an eyebrow. i squint again.

i say, slowly, it’s– not a stupid issue, i’m not stupid, but it’s frustrating me and i don’t want it to be a problem i’m having.

no dart this time. okay. sweet.

so the rest of the hour passes with me intermittently getting nailed with tiny foam darts and then swearing and then fixing my language and, wouldn’t you know it, i start liking myself a little more by the end of the session, which is mildly infuriating because paul can tell and he’s very smug about it

anyway i leave his office and the lady having the next appointment walks in and i hear what’s all over the floor? and paul very seriously says cognitive behavioral therapy tools.”

Impressed by Paul’s technique, people recounted their bad doctor’s appointments.