I interviewed Psychiatrist Anne Lindhardt

Oasis

Once upon a time, I was in a 14-month outpatient treatment at Oasis, a specialised trauma centre in central Copenhagen.

It’s by far the most comprehensive and demanding treatment I’ve encountered, and I’m extremely proud I managed to complete it.
Even though I was adamant about avoiding medication, my psychiatrist, Anne Lindhardt, monitored me closely and we did make a plan in case medication was needed.

Anne is the former director of the Psychiatric Centre Bispebjerg, and former chair of the Danish Psychiatry Foundation.
She has also served as a member of the Danish Medico-Legal Council and as chair of the psychiatrists’ section of the European Union of Medical Specialists.
She’s wonderful and compassionate, a psychiatrist all survivors with complex PTSD should meet.

About six months after my treatment ended, I interviewed Anne for my memoir.
I write about my experiences through the psychiatric system as a nurse and patient, and how I witnessed patients with Borderline Personality Disorder consistently being dehumanised and discriminated against.
I interviewed Anne to shed light on this tendency to dehumanise and to discuss why survivors of severe developmental trauma are most often misdiagnosed with personality disorders.

Complex PTSD

During my treatment at Oasis, almost all conversations with Anne were about how the dehumanisation in psychiatry had impacted me and caused severe harm. Thankfully, EMDR helped me work through several traumatic events, including the abuse I had suffered in psychiatry at the hands of a male psychologist.

After diagnosing me with Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, also known as Complex PTSD, Anne tried to help me get the diagnosis from psychiatry replaced with the correct diagnosis.
She is one of the psychiatrists who do not agree with the diagnosis I was given by psychiatry.
Before Anne, two other psychiatrists and three psychologists had also disagreed with the diagnosis.

Unfortunately, it was not possible to correct the diagnosis unless I became a psychiatric patient again and underwent a new assessment.
In my memoir, I write about why I chose not to return to psychiatry and why I don’t recommend that survivors of complex childhood trauma seek help there unless they are in severe crisis—and even then, only as a last resort.

If you have endured complex trauma as a child and have been diagnosed, I highly recommend seeking a second, or even third, opinion.
I wasted many, many years on wrongful treatments because I was misdiagnosed, and it almost cost me my life.

To Anne,

Bless your heart.
Thank you for seeing me as a human being.
Thank you for witnessing my vulnerability and seeing the resilience in my voice and mission.
I wish every child survivor of complex trauma could meet someone as gentle and compassionate as you.
To be witnessed and held is a healing practice many mental healthcare professionals have yet to master.