@IstillLoveVistaBaby
That was an honest post, and nothing in it seems a bannable offense.
I have some thoughts, though my situation is very different from yours, so you will have to see if anything suits, and adapt it.
The facts for me are, I live in a place that is jam packed with SJWs, and I have only recently started having to deal with doctors, therapists, group counselling, and have had to develop something resembling the skills of a diplomat to get what I need out of the system without getting screwed by someone who doesn't like my views.
The whole situation reminds me of an old Star Trek episode where the crew visited a planet that was basically a cult, and everyone described themselves as being "of the body." So the captain and his cohort try to pretend to be just like them, only sometimes it doesn't work, and this happens:
My situation was, I had a couple health issues that needed sorting, and the only doctor I could see on my plan was a SJW who had named herself something weird, and volunteered helping trannies "be their true selves" and stuff like that.
I know this stuff because I checked her out on Facebook before the first appointment. She was as you might suspect, although superficially nice, she really thought she knew it all, and didn't really listen to what I was saying, and would prescribe me things without explaining them and she kind of made me bristle.
At first, I just talked to her honestly, and at one point I made the observation that someone I was close to was hard to deal with because she used the "woman strategy" for arguing.
"The woman strategy, what do you mean by that?" She asked, and being naive, I explained that when a woman is right, she argues facts, and when she is wrong, she criticizes your body language and tone of voice, so she is never wrong.
I have since learned that there are certain phrases used by health professionals, all of them women in my experience, which sound innocent, but that are actually traps being set up for you.
Expressions like:
"What do you mean by that?"
"How so?"
"Explain."
Innocuous phrases all, but delivered with a hint of challenge in the voice that means she wants you to talk about it to give her ammunition so she can shoot your down or nit pick you to death.
I have to be ever vigilant because they can be set off by the weirdest of things. Just yesterday, I had a receptionist draw her sword, and hoist her shield because she mentioned she had some herbal extracts in her water, and I offhandedly said, "Yeah, everyone in this town has to have special water. No one can drink from the tap."
This led to a long boring conversation in which she tried to convince me that she wasn't predictable, and didn't have special water because everyone else did, and then for a little while she just pretended she didn't know what I was talking about when I said, that people had to drink something that signaled they were special, water with mushrooms in it or tinctures, or special alkalized ionized Japanese water.
Now I know this is different from what you are dealing with, because you are a person that has doubts who happens to have to deal with gung ho military people, while I am a guy with realistic views on gender who lives in delusion SJW-land.
I think though that the principles of what I am learning will transfer over to your situation.
I also went to a therapist for depression and then had to attend a group for the same thing, and these were challenging too.
So here is what I figured out.
In my case, everyone has to feel that they are an absolute, special unique, gift to reality, so they will all bristle whenever I make a generalization of any sort about anything. These are the kind of people who say things like "my truth" and who, even without saying anything directly, will always criticize and dismiss anything that is unapologetically masculine.
So I just decided that even though the situation sucked, I would go along with it. At least go through the motions, and see what it was all about and what I could get from it. I would focus totally on getting anything positive
for myself from the situation, and leave the bickering over grander issues for another time and another place.
With my doctor, for example, I just focused exclusively on medical issues; concrete, observable, measurable issues, and what could be done about them. Once I did that, she was a dream to work with. I know that sound a bit like surrender, and not being true to my grander vision, but to me, it isn't.
The reason it isn't a surrender is because she is hopeless, and unteachable, but what she does know is medicine, so I am going to ask a million questions and learn as much as I possibly can about what is going on with me and what to do about it. I am using her expertise for my own benefits, and not worrying about her political views at all. I am buttoning my lip about the new parent posters that have every combination of couple except for a man and a woman, and also about the birth control poster that encourages women to use the pill because they can always have a kid in their thirties.
I am in the belly of the she-beast, and I cannot change that, so I am merely picking my battles, not wasting my time, and learning as much as I can about what I need to learn. Yeah, takes self control, and vigilance against my naturally sarcastic tongue and challenging nature.
I'll take the self control, and it has served me well. Without any politics in the mix, she is a little trouper, and has answered all my questions, and if she doesn't, I just keep asking and asking until she does. You asked this in an earlier post, so I think your intuition is right on.
Questions are better than statements. Questions in a friendly or at least neutral voice that doesn't put these maniacs on the defensive.
My doc is still a pretty dismissive little bitch, and she likes to prescribe something and rush out of the room, but I won't let her, because I have a million questions, and how can she criticize me for being interested in my own care? And if she does get away before I am done with my questions, I just don't take the medications she prescribes or have the procedure she refers me for, and the next time I see her I tell her that I still had questions.
She hates this because her ego wants to give orders and have them carried out, but as long as I act friendly or quizzical, she can't really get miffed about having her authority questioned. And when I am feeling particularly puckish, I, with a straight face, actually use some of her SJW phrases against her, and she
doubly can't complain about that.
Her: "Why didn't you go to the Gastroenterologist?"
Me: "Well, it is my body, and I didn't feel entirely safe."
Heh Heh. Can't smirk though, have to play it straight. You can laugh about it when you get home.
Ok, that's her.
Now on to the mental health monsters. While I agree with 2Wycked that group therapy can be positive, it also can be a total nightmare, and if you are already feeling anxious and depressed, it will only make it worse, and also, as you have already noticed, they will try to put it back on you when
their therapeutic approach doesn't work.
The first thing I do is see what sort of options I have. Like when I went to a clinic to start seeing a therapist, my first question was whether they had any male therapists.
The answer was: Barely.
So I always go for the guy, either to be my therapist or to lead the group. Guys can be soydisasters, it's true, but so far, it has worked for me, even when I had to deal with men who didn't share my political views, we could still relate as guys, and find some common ground.
At my intake, the worker asked if I had any preference about the gender of my therapist and I said, "Yeah, I want a dude."
That woke her up. I think that option existed mainly for women who weren't comfortable with men, so the idea that I could use the option to avoid dealing with a chick felt like cheating to her. She didn't like it. But what could she do? She asked.
At the end of the first interview, she said, through gritted teeth, "We will honor your request for a male therapist." I kept a straight face, but it was hilarious. She was taking it personally that I didn't want a woman, even though I never saw her again and she wasn't a therapist.
Women are such little babies!
I did get stuck with an older dyke therapist for my group therapy, and that was pretty bad. Not only that, there was only one other guy in the group, and my first day there all the women said they had chased all the men away, and looked at me for my reaction, and I waved the back of my hand at them and said, "Pssssst."
They found this funny, the group therapist did not. I stuck that one out for a few weeks, but left, finally, because I didn't feel it was any help to me. I asked my other therapist, the guy, if there were other groups I could go to, and there were, so I chose a different one. But I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't asked.
That dyke though. She opened on group with a poem about how great grandmothers are, and then gave a little speech about the wisdom of --you guessed it--women, and asked each of us to share a story about a wise older woman in our life.
People shared stories, but none of the women they talked about seemed wise or kind. Just a bunch of hard old bitches. When it got to me I said, innocently, is it ok to tell a story about
a grandfather?'
She said yes, again through the gritted teeth. How could she refuse? It would have been sexist.
So, to recap, keep your eyes of the prize, and look for something of value in these sessions, ask a million questions, keep a face that is either positive or neutral, see what your options are. They won't volunteer them, you have to ask. Maybe there is a better group that you can go to.
I have gotten a lot out of therapy, but all the things I got were very workmanlike, practical strategies for dealing with life and not looking at things so negative, or being mindful when anxious and analyzing the emotion in the moment, locating it in my body, and trying to understand it.
The rest of the stuff I just discarded. I also had a bit of fun laughing at these people and using their language against them, though not laughing out loud, and not laughing till later.
You sound like you are in a rough spot. Depression and anxiety are no joke, and it is hard to do red pill battle on top of getting better.
I have some friends who are vets, and it sounds like that bureaucracy is its own nightmare on top of the regular disaster of the mental health system. Plus you have every right to be disappointed when the career you hoped for is derailed by injury in the call of duty.
I think the best you can do is something along the lines of what I have done. Get the most benefits for yourself out of the program you are stuck in and just go through the motions with all the bullshit.
You can fight your red pill battles later when you have the tools and skills to deal with the depression.
Let us know how it goes.
