Thoughts on "therapism"?

I think that there’s this idea that a) everybody’s broken and that b) everybody needs therapy. I also think that, after enough time locked in with a psychologist a) and b) will be true of anybody.
Personally, I adhere to a), but reject b).

@Nullo Exactly. The endgoal of any kind of therapy is supposed to be to fix what’s broken and get back out there. As an instructor liked to say, “we’re all broken cookies”. That’s a given. But turning that into an endless, self-contained loop renders a person useless to himself and others. How is that therapeutic?

Have you considered that it isn’t really “therapy” (which is a very broad term) but rather the type of therapy, the therapist, the modalities used, the treatment plan (or lack thereof), etc? It seems like we shouldn’t just point to “therapy” and say “you are bad”, but rather say that (for example) client-centered Gestalt therapy with a therapist who’s bringing a lot of their own issues to the table is problematic, and we should work on a solution.

I was the East coasts first analyst-therapist combo… the first analrapist.

And I almost got arrested for those business cards….

@tedd Were you a never-nude, also?

I Don’t buy into the “therapy fad” currently in full gear…. but whatever floats your boat or that everyone is “broken” idea…

I believe therapy can help some, have no effect on others, and severely damage the rest…

When nothing is wrong and you start believing something is “wrong” with you…..sometimes you can make it wrong with you…

It’s a very interesting point of view. There is a hole bunch of people behind similar ideas, tagged as Anty-psychiatry.

It basically says that therapy in general is not such a good thing and shouldn’t be taken lightly. I totally agree with this statement. I just think that a lot of times psychiatrist and psychologist just work as a sort of “magicians”, never telling you what are they doing. I think most of their job could be equally done by a clear, relaxed mind and a good friend to listen, isn’t it?

Anyway, one point in which I’m sure the world is just going crazy about is pills and medications. We’re taking medications for everything. We’re taking pills to sleep, pills to cry, pills to be happy, pills to not be afraid. Stop the pills. I just think they’re some kind step towards a better and stronger social control. I know. Pills CAN be good for some mental diseases, of course. But… come on. Pills for kids who are too active? They’re not suffering, you’re suffering and that’s why you put them on drugs! Think about that!

I think pills and mental medication should be only taken if the “ill” person wants to get treatment.

@Pk_JoA It’s important to remember that the amount of talking one needs to do might be a lot more than a friend is willing to listen (and often with good reason). And even if that friend is listening, that doesn’t mean they’re a solid sounding board.

I don’t know much about the topic but I’ll say this:

Every job is an art. I would guess that most people work without a real love for their job. I don’t expect this to be any different for therapists. There must be a lot of therapists out there who are just barely doing their jobs, never figured out how to be GOOD at what they do… There must be a lot, however, who LOVE their jobs and how have become artists and masters of their craft.

They can’t all be equally good. Some are probably worth your time and even worth seeking out and others are just the average therapists you meet behind a dumpster. Just the same as how some friends are amazing and some friends aren’t.

@MyNewtBoobs Agreed up to a point. I just think they charge too much on too much desperate, sad people, who are willing to left their savings on a good listener.

I’m not saying it’s TOTALLY bad or that it it’s NEVER helpful, but I think this thing of “oh, we all should do some therapy sometime. It’s a good thing you know” it’s good.

@Pk_JoA To be quite honest, I’ve never encountered that mindset within the actual therapy field. I’ve only encountered people who are against the mindset (which I’ve never found to actually exist).

@MyNewtBoobs I’ve friends that went to see a psychologist just because their mom thought they were “living a hard time”. And with hard time, I mean they were turning twelve. I mean, is it good to go to a psychologist just because you’re entering adolescence?

I don’t know. Maybe it’s not like that on other parts of the worlds.
I’ve heard that psychology is more popular in Argentina (my country) and France than in any other place in the world.

Job security for therepists! : )

@Pk_JoA And sending kids to therapy is very popular. But there’s actually something different about it – parents are having a hard time and would rather pay for someone else to parent their kids (and possibly find a fix for the hell that is adolescence). That’s different than parents who are willing to go to therapy themselves. The idea that everyone needs help means you think that you are included in “everyone”. The idea that everyone but you is wrong is in no way new.
A lot of these parents send their kids to therapy, but that doesn’t mean they think their friends, co-workers, and basically anyone who isn’t driving them crazy with their newfound love of debate needs lifelong therapy.

Doesn’t the fact that everybody needs help redefine the relativist view of normal? Wouldn’t this mean that therapists are inherently superfluous?

Lol…..
the next kid fad will be to make fun of the kid in school that doesn’t have a therapist….

edited

It’s not about getting fixed; it’s about modification—that is, facing our wiring and learning how to control it rather than be controled by it.

I never bought all that psychotherapy stuff and the like. Too much of a soft science.

I’ve been sent to therapy to get fixed. I was ‘broken’ and didn’t want to talk to anyone about it, because I didn’t know how I was ‘broken’. I’ll say I was very confused, but I… I dunno. I wasn’t broken.

All the adults around me were all urging me to go to therapy of some kind; and then my mom found me someone.

I thought it’d be good, because I thought I was supposed to talk to someone to figure things out. And while I was there I thought it was helping.
I’d go back to my life and things made less sense than before, the theories weren’t quite fitting, but I dismissed the misfeelings because hey, it was therapy.

I figured out the game really quick. You talk, they empathize, you talk, they go “oh, that must’ve been hard, how do you feel?” Then, depending on the therapy style and what you’re feeling, they either try to make you feel more of that feeling, or try to make you logic away the feeling.

No I didn’t just see one person. I saw primarily one person, but I’ve seen many. The same thing with everyone. It didn’t help.

They wanted me to tell them stuff so I’d say things at random. That was supposed to be my subconscious leaking out, and so they latched onto all of it and tried to fit me to one of the models of problem they knew.

The other thing is, I’m not the most outgoing. So the more I talked to the therapists, the less energy and inclination I had to talk to anyone else. I became more isolated than before, and less willing to let anyone else know anything about me.

I also started to feel alienated from so many people because I would express a little annoyance with them, and then get back that they had affected me at vulnerable stages, and that I was repressed because of them.
I was told I had pent up anger at them. That I had to find that anger and let it out. When I said I wasn’t mad, I was told I just wasn’t in touch with my feelings. I really wasn’t mad, until I thought I was

Basically I got worse. Not on the outside; I acted better. On the inside.

I went from finding psychology fascinating and taking psych classes to losing trust in the whole premise.

I know it’s supposed to help people, and I know many who swear by it. I just can’t shake this feeling that all it’s doing is assigning blame to things so people who have angst/frustration/wounds have something that’s the reason for everything. And then with the alleged reason, they can move on.
Growing in me is this idea that the real problem is the society that tells us all we need is therapy and, ocassionally, meds…

Theories kept changing because nothing was really fitting. And all the while, I felt the pressure of okay, she’s in therapy now, she’s getting better that I had to fulfill somehow.
The only thing I knew wasn’t true was that I wasn’t depressed. Gut feeling, I guess. But the more I talked to people and searched for things that were ‘wrong’ with me, the more I created a depressed persona.

I kept getting told I was making process, that everything I was feeling was legitimate, everything was important, that I was finding myself, by finding all these thoughts and feelings that weren’t there before. That was my subconscious speaking. Supposedly.

Then I looked back and thought, “wait, I like who I was before I came here better…” and “wait… nothing makes sense anymore…” Everything was so muddled by the end.

And what did I get out of all of this? Ultimately, I lost dance.

…That’s all my very long way of saying, I don’t think it truly helps. At least, it’s definitely only for very specific cases, and I wasn’t one of them.

That was exactly what I meant in my previous comments. The case of @DancingMind examples it perfectly. Therapy is maybe good in some cases, but it shouldn’t be taken as a painless, always-for-the-better, every-time-good process.

I do not know the difference between therapy, psychology or psychiatry. I have never been to any of them. I am sure there are some people who need these things. Without having a real grasp on any of these areas, I would think those who harm (or think they would harm) themselves or others would be prime candidates. Although it sounds harsh, I have more of a “suck it up and move on” attitude about life.

@all Tell me more about that. How does that make you feel?

@everephebe I really laughed out loud!

@optimisticpessimist Therapy is a catch-all term for anything that remotely resembles psychotherapy. Psychologists are clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts (contrast with psychiatrists, who typically provide medical interventions and drug therapies, as opposed to analysis and counseling).
If you’re talking about problems, you’re (probably) dealing with a psychologist.
If you’re taking pills, you’re (definitely) dealing with a psychiatrist (they, by definition, HAVE to have a Medical Degree).
If you’re doing something, you are “in therapy” and have a “therapist”.

@MyNewtBoobs Thank you.

I have been seen by therapists in the past and will not deny that I am seeing one now; however, the one I’m seeing now, I really like. She has made it clear, if you are in therapy – or seeing a therapist forever, you are not making progress. I need someone to help me through a situation, but not my entire life. I don’t get people that I’ve met that have been in therapy for years. It doesn’t make sense to me.

I’m not anti-psychiatry. I am anti “abusive-psychiatry”. Does that make sense?...I can ask my therapist.

@cak Well, one would hope you’re against abusive psychiatry! But really, who isn’t against abusive blank? I for one am against abusive psychiatry, abusive plumbing, abusive Wall Street, abusive dog grooming…

Wow, some great answers here! I agree that not all therapists are bad, and that most of them are genuinely trying to help. Just seems like the solutions to the genuine problems that send people to therapy are in need of a little help themselves. For example, my dad was abusive. At various points, a counselor or therapist would try to convince me he was also an alcoholic and/or molested me, neither of which are true. I believe they truly thought such things had happened and were trying to help me unearth and face “facts” (aka hidden trauma). I wonder how often that kind of thing goes on…

As for people who go or are sent just because they (or others) think they automatically need “fixing”... that’s part of my point. Life isn’t meant to be easy, but therapy can be overkill. Ditto for throwing pills at every damn “inconvenience”. Both can become vicious cycles.