Seeing a therapist.

[ivanimal]

Back in 1989. When my father passed, I needed help dealing with the constant pain and absolute denial that my father had been taken from me so young. I was so impressed with the levels of understanding and care in dealing with my issues. It took some time but I was able to resolve my daily agony and move on with the facts and reality. It sure was a godsend.

Fast forward to last year. My cousin Victor who was the oldest of our generation, passed away from a brain tumor and other cancers brought upon by a life saving kidney transplant. I am the youngest of my generation and our unlikely bond was created by our mutual love for all things 2A. To say I am upset by his death would be an understatement. It?s so unfair. I am a man of faith and have done my share of praying and sought spiritual support, still I am having trouble dealing with this.

When I spoke to my spiritual advisor he warned me of seeking help and getting a liberal asshat that might affect my 2A rights. Yikes! He said he would also like to get some help but his bipolar diagnosis might get him flagged. Sheesh?

I am wondering if I can get some advice here from people that have had similar experiences. Or know of 2A friendly therapist in the Bay Area. I would like to find an avenue for my advisor as well. We are currently becoming friends and I would love to offer him some help since he so clearly without any reciprocal help has given me such genuine love and advice.

I am currently 23 years sober and a brain surgery survivor ( sure hits home that Victors cause of death was a brain tumor ) so no self medicating to speak of.

Yes my sponsor is aware of everything.

Ivan

[MJB]

Good luck!

[Usmc0844spare]

Back in 1989. When my father passed, I needed help dealing with the constant pain and absolute denial that my father had been taken from me so young. I was so impressed with the levels of understanding and care in dealing with my issues. It took some time but I was able to resolve my daily agony and move on with the facts and reality. It sure was a godsend.

Fast forward to last year. My cousin Victor who was the oldest of our generation, passed away from a brain tumor and other cancers brought upon by a life saving kidney transplant. I am the youngest of my generation and our unlikely bond was created by our mutual love for all things 2A. To say I am upset by his death would be an understatement. It?s so unfair. I am a man of faith and have done my share of praying and sought spiritual support, still I am having trouble dealing with this.

When I spoke to my spiritual advisor he warned me of seeking help and getting a liberal asshat that might affect my 2A rights. Yikes! He said he would also like to get some help but his bipolar diagnosis might get him flagged. Sheesh?

I am wondering if I can get some advice here from people that have had similar experiences. Or know of 2A friendly therapist in the Bay Area. I would like to find an avenue for my advisor as well. We are currently becoming friends and I would love to offer him some help since he so clearly without any reciprocal help has given me such genuine love and advice.

I am currently 23 years sober and a brain surgery survivor ( sure hits home that Victors cause of death was a brain tumor ) so no self medicating to speak of.

Yes my sponsor is aware of everything.

Ivan

I might be wrong (I am sure someone will correct me) but I don't think that they can "flag" you for anything, based on what you describe.

To be clear I am not connected with the therapy industry but I know my way around it a LITTLE bit due to having had to organize it for a loved one.

1) It does not sound like anything you are going through would flag you for anything.

2) I don't think in general there is a database of "therapist flagged" people being accessed by DOJ. AFAIK either the therapist judges you to be at risk of causing harm to yourself or someone else, in which case they are required by law to alert authorities within 24 hours (or something)... or they don't. There is not a "we're not sure but add him to the "just in case this guy wants to buy a gun at some point" roster"

3) Why would your gun ownership come into it AT ALL for you OR your advisor? There is no need to even mention that, or tell the truth about it of asked. Just pretend you are a non gun owner.

4) The applicable state law wording would appear to be "Is disqualified because of a history of severely impairing mental illness or chronic alcoholism, including individuals found by a court to be a danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, found mentally incompetent to stand trial, found not guilty by reason of insanity, and those adjudicated to be a "mentally disordered sex offender"."

None of this would apply to someone dealing with the death of loved ones, unless you are expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation. I also seriously doubt that the advisor's Bipolar disorder would NECESSARILY slot in there somewhere (is his case SEVERELY IMPAIRING?) , again, unless they are expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation.

Again, I may be wrong on a lot of that, not sure.

FWIW, IMHO, if you ARE expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation, then yeah, you should probably not own have immediate access to guns. I have a relative that is Bipolar; that honestly gives me pause. No way that relative should be near guns. However, he's got a LOT of stuff going on and I am in no way qualified to know where the Bipolar ends and the multitude of other mental issues begin That's just me though, I know a lot of folks probably would strongly disagree.

TL/DR: I sincerely doubt your gun ownership should factor in to who you get therapy from. Not so sure for your advisor however.

[that one guy]

Lie.

[IVC]

It's so sad to read about the real life issues that are thrown our way, only to have to deal with the potential legal ramifications of trying to help oneself and ease the pain. As if it's not enough that we lose the close ones...

I wish I could help with the legal side, I can't, the laws have been changing and it's not clear what can happen. My deepest condolences on your loss and I'm hoping you find a normal person to help you out.

[therealnickb]

Way above my pay grade, but I wish you the best of luck. Sincerely.

[ivanimal]

I might be wrong (I am sure someone will correct me) but I don't think that they can "flag" you for anything, based on what you describe.

To be clear I am not connected with the therapy industry but I know my way around it a LITTLE bit due to having had to organize it for a loved one.

1) It does not sound like anything you are going through would flag you for anything.

2) I don't think in general there is a database of "therapist flagged" people being accessed by DOJ. AFAIK either the therapist judges you to be at risk of causing harm to yourself or someone else, in which case they are required by law to alert authorities within 24 hours (or something)... or they don't. There is not a "we're not sure but add him to the "just in case this guy wants to buy a gun at some point" roster"

3) Why would your gun ownership come into it AT ALL for you OR your advisor? There is no need to even mention that, or tell the truth about it of asked. Just pretend you are a non gun owner.

4) The applicable state law wording would appear to be "Is disqualified because of a history of severely impairing mental illness or chronic alcoholism, including individuals found by a court to be a danger to self or others as a result of mental illness, found mentally incompetent to stand trial, found not guilty by reason of insanity, and those adjudicated to be a "mentally disordered sex offender"."

None of this would apply to someone dealing with the death of loved ones, unless you are expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation. I also seriously doubt that the advisor's Bipolar disorder would NECESSARILY slot in there somewhere (is his case SEVERELY IMPAIRING?) , again, unless they are expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation.

Again, I may be wrong on a lot of that, not sure.

FWIW, IMHO, if you ARE expressing suicidal / homicidal ideation, then yeah, you should probably not own guns. I have a relative that is Bipolar; that honestly gives me pause. No way that relative should be near guns. However, he's got a LOT of stuff going on and I am in no way qualified to know where the Bipolar ends and the multitude of other mental issues begin That's just me though, I know a lot of folks probably would strongly disagree.

TL/DR: I sincerely doubt your need for therapy should factor in to who you get therapy from. Not so sure for your advisor however.

Yeah I thought I was a non issue way back when. But with the new turn in your neighbor BS they are e pushing gives me pause. I have never been anything like suicidal. I don?t even pretend to understand y that must be like. God bless those that have that issue. What they must endure make my pain so simple in comparison.

[Epaphroditus]

Get the help you need.

"Adjudicated mentally incompetent " requires a ruling by a judge.

Your therapist has no need of any knowledge of the contents of your armory of even if it's existence.

[benjamin101677]

I may word this wrong, so bare with me. For those of you that don't know Ivan the original poster is one of the greatest people you could ever get to know. He has fought or helped fight more gun laws than anyone else I know.

I too had low point and issues in my life in 2019. I, went to counseling with a therapist and figured my life out. Instead of destroying my life I learned to deal with my life. I am so much happier of a person now because of what happened. What I thought was the lows of my life losing my girlfriend, my house, most of my fantasy life was something with therapy I learned actually probably saved the rest of my life. I would have never admitted this openly without knowing Ivan.

That being said I think counseling / therapy is a great thing and no one should worry about the 2nd amendment when deciding to get their life together or not. Maybe time that we as a gun community challenge the red flag and other laws. Probably won't be a easy fight but it would could be a worthy fight, it is allows people to go to therapy and correct their life issues without fear.

Should you go to therapy and end up with some type of red flag where they are trying to take your guns away I would be proud to stand with you in your fight and donate money towards fighting any type of red flag laws.

[NaClAddict]

I have discussed this with several mental health professionals. They are only obligated to report you if they believe you may harm yourself or others. Being depressed alone is not cause. Thinking about an actual method is probably going towards cause for reporting. It sucks but you have to walk a fine line. Can’t go wrong telling them you don’t have guns.

[IVC]

They are only obligated to report you if they believe you may harm yourself or others.

Therein lies the rub - an anti-gun therapist is free to use personal animus towards people with guns to make this "judgment call." Especially since "erring on the side of caution" is a good excuse and provides plausible deniability to stick it to the gun owners.

[OlderThanDirt]

Back in 1989. When my father passed, I needed help dealing with the constant pain and absolute denial that my father had been taken from me so young. I was so impressed with the levels of understanding and care in dealing with my issues. It took some time but I was able to resolve my daily agony and move on with the facts and reality. It sure was a godsend.

Fast forward to last year. My cousin Victor who was the oldest of our generation, passed away from a brain tumor and other cancers brought upon by a life saving kidney transplant. I am the youngest of my generation and our unlikely bond was created by our mutual love for all things 2A. To say I am upset by his death would be an understatement. It?s so unfair. I am a man of faith and have done my share of praying and sought spiritual support, still I am having trouble dealing with this.

When I spoke to my spiritual advisor he warned me of seeking help and getting a liberal asshat that might affect my 2A rights. Yikes! He said he would also like to get some help but his bipolar diagnosis might get him flagged. Sheesh?

I am wondering if I can get some advice here from people that have had similar experiences. Or know of 2A friendly therapist in the Bay Area. I would like to find an avenue for my advisor as well. We are currently becoming friends and I would love to offer him some help since he so clearly without any reciprocal help has given me such genuine love and advice.

I am currently 23 years sober and a brain surgery survivor ( sure hits home that Victors cause of death was a brain tumor ) so no self medicating to speak of.

Yes my sponsor is aware of everything.

Ivan

To make a long story short, my entire family is dead. My wife?s entire family is dead. Most of my friends are, well, dead. It has been 15 years of hell taking care of dying parents and siblings, and the money grabbing parasites that follow. I?m not a therapist, but am pretty good at talking things through. I?m also about as 2A friendly as it gets. A good friend and neighbor is also a 2A friendly therapist based in San Luis Obispo. Not Bay Area, but here to help a longtime Calgunner.

[hambam105]

I'll get straight to the point.

There only about 10,000 Psy. docs in the Bay Area that most certainly have the authority to...and would love
to have the opportunity to....pull your 2A rights away based on half of what you posted.

I know you're hurting. But a public forum like this is not not not the platform to broadcast the situation.

[TRAP55]

For those of you that don't know Ivan the original poster is one of the greatest people you could ever get to know.

Ben, most true statement I've ever seen posted on this forum. First time we shook hands, I knew we would be friends. The last time I saw him, was when they were counting the days for Victor. Less than a week later, my world caved in on me too. Been picking up the pieces since.
Ivan, I hope with all my heart you find the closure you need. All I can offer you is some range therapy I owe you. Come and collect it, it'll do us both some good.

[naz]

OP, sorry for your loss

My $0.02 is find a “life coach” instead of a “therapist”. Maybe it’s just the specific people but I find life coaches give actionable advice and tools to deal with life and therapists just charge you $$$$ to listen to you talk

And don’t discuss guns just the loss of important people in your life