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Comment by jasonhansel | Hacker News Reader

This could well be much worse than nothing.

If your leg gets blown off, and the only help you're getting is from Gary, who claims a strong stomach and has used a needle kit before, for sewing closed your femoral artery, I reckon you're taking a swing.

Are you sure the desperate don't deserve this attempt to help them? I can't imagine what it must be like to have such issues and have zero professional options to turn to, and you know what the solution for many is.

What if your leg is just sore, and Gary swears it's actually been blown off and he needs to operate immediately?

Except if your leg is blown off every hospital in the US is legally required to treat you whether or not you have insurance or even if you’re homeless, so Gary is not your only option.

A bad therapist could be substantially worse than no treatment for mental health issues, particularly if people see it as more authoritative than it is.

100%

It took me far too long to realize that the first psychiatrist I saw was pushing me in the opposite direction that I wanted my life to go. I had no context and blindly trusted her as an expert. Other therapists have since told me that what I was told my first psychiatrist was unhelpful, unethical, and even malpractice. No person (other than myself) has harmed my life as much as that psychiatrist. And I got to pay a small fortune for the terrible experience.

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