How will my therapy effect me later?

You should talk openly and frankly with your therapist, if it is gonna do you any good.
Don’t worry about future gun purchases. Worry about your mental health for the rest of your life.

I can’t do that. I refuse to do anything that will jeopardize my career.
It’s all I have.

Legally therapy is supposed to be COMPLETELY confidential unless the things you say constitute you as a danger to yourself or others. So, unless you’ve told your therapist that you have plans on killing someone (or yourself), you should be okay.

I don’t know the specifics of this in relation to gun licenses, but the government has no right digging into your confidential therapy sessions when you’ve said nothing wrong.

I suggest you don’t talk about killing people, blowing stuff up, or how much you hate certain races. If you are no risk to yourself or others, your therapy shouldn’t go beyond you and your therapist.

It’s not that I’m a risk to myself. It’s that I was.

Your past may have some bearing on getting government clearance, but as long as you are (and have been for some time) in a healthy, stable state, I don’t see why you shouldn’t be able to be given a license. Your therapist (and/or psychiatrist/doctor, if applicable) should be able to testify to your mental state without divulging any confidential details, hopefully.

May I ask, what kind of career are you pursuing? A friend of mine was worried about gov’t clearance for a job he was applying for (in this case, a drug test) and in the end they didn’t even test him.

CIA/ FBI/ DEA/ Privatized Military

@ParaParaYukiko is correct. Except for things you say that indicate an intention to harm yourself or others, what you discuss in therapy is kept in strict confidence. I assume that you have chosen the therapist as opposed to a situation where some court has mandated that you be treated and and specified who will do the therapy.

Security clearances are denied for people who are unable to be relied upon to function reliably and handle confidential information with discretion. People who refuse to deal effectively with their problems by seeking help are a bigger cause for concern than those who consult therapists to learn how to cope with life’s challenges.

Many government agencies where security clearances are important now have psychologists on staff to assist their employees. It is important to clarify what kind of confidentiality applies in those types of in-house counselling.

So then I shouldn’t tell them that I used to be suicidal?

If that’s something you feel like you want to talk about, then I think you should. I don’t think it would have too much bearing on your career, considering you have been healthy and stable for a while now, yes?

About 3 years yes. But even then, you can’t tell anything was tried. I didn’t leave marks.

“I can’t do that. I refuse to do anything that will jeopardize my career.
It’s all I have.”

You’re smart to avoid jeopardizing your career, but that last part, “it’s all I have.” worries me. If it’s true, I’d like to strongly suggest that you get something more. ... easier said than done sometimes, but even a great career won’t sustain you forever if it is all you have.

@MrsNash I figure the rest will come later.

@Army0f0n3 If your worried about your privacy then worry about the fact that employers can look up your on-line profile…You said you were a risk to yourself… what if your future bosses look that up? I would be on best behavior.

I’ve got nothing that links me to here, and there isn’t much to my facebook

@Army0f0n3 o.k. cool party on then : )