Can a psychologist teach me how not to care too much about what other people think of me?

A good psychologist or counselor can point out to you aspects of your situation that may not have occurred to you. This can be very illuminating and helpful to you. When you can see what’s really going on then you can gain confidence and control.

Good health!

No, not entirely. The therapist may help to direct your feelings in a healthy direction,. but they cannot make you feel differently about how you feel about others.
Try to feel better about yourself. You cannot expect others to feel about you if you don’t care enough about yourself. It is a self-esteem issue.

I think that help from a psychologist is beneficial to some extent.
A psychologist may give you tips and show you ways on dealing with judgement and expectations.
From what I see when you care about what others think it actually forms setbacks in your own life from little things to what you can and cannot wear to major things such as careers. You might begin to question if a certain career you are interested in is acceptable by society and if this career will make people think you are “not smart enough”, “not capable enough” or “you are just taking the easy way out”.
My personal opinion is that nobody else can help you but yourself because only you know to what extent you think and care about other people’s opinions.
Maybe try taking small steps.

If you struggle voicing your opinion in class or your workplace maybe on Day 1 begin with addressing the issue on a small scale. Maybe bring up that issue with a colleague or another student. If they look at you weirdly or make a judgement think of it as if they had an epiphany. Think of it as they said to themselves in their mind “I never thought of this”. Take your negative thoughts and turn them into positive ones.

On Day 2 address the issue with someone else. Maybe a colleague who you don’t really talk to much. On Day 3 try addressing the issue with a senior worker so on and so forth.

In terms of being outside, you may find that people are judging what you are wearing.
Turn those thoughts into “Wow they love my style”.

Maybe speak to a psychologist for your own contentment but try solving your judgement problems through small steps.
This helps boost your self-confidence and self-esteem.

Just read a bunch of Ayn Rand uncritically and then you won’t give a shit about anyone but yourself…

In all seriousness though, I’ve had positive experiences with a mental health professional who helped me using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy with thought-stopping techniques. There was a time when I’d get into my own head and the fear of judgment of others was keeping me more isolated than I should have been and the therapy and techniques were helpful for me.

Do you think that you care too much what other people think of you? This could be a good starting point. Before talking about this with a psychiatrist, think it through on your own. Recognizing that there is a problem is the first step in finding a solution.

Possibly. Why do you want to NOT care?
Many of us here care for you, what“s so awful about that?

@RedDeerGuy1 Magic happens when you let go and stop giving a crap about what others think. It’s freeing and you realize how that thinking has held you back from being your natural self. You kinda have to do that on your own but I’m sure a therapist can help a little. Therapists don’t have a magic wand they can wave to make it happen. That said, not caring what people think of you does not in anyway mean you get to stop caring about them or their feelings. It’s not necessarily a bad thing that you care what others think unless you dwell on it and it causes you anxiety.

@KNOWITALL I believe the issue is not that someone would care about him, but that he is terrified that someone might not like him. Going through life worrying if anyone might not like you can be very stressful.

When I was young, I was VERY shy. Part of the problem for me was that I was worried I might say or do something and people would laugh at me and ridicule me…I was focused on what others thought of me. I realized I was missing a lot of life like that. I also realized that people I thought were confident still said and did things that made them look foolish. Once I understood that, I purposely worked on being more outgoing. Yes, I did things periodically that made me look foolish, but contrary to what I used to think, it didn’t kill me and ended up going away fairly quickly. As I started coming out of my shell more, I started enjoying life a whole lot more.

Here’s a little wisdom from the Analects of Confucius:

Tsze-kung asked, saying, “What do you say of a man who is loved by all the people of his neighbourhood?” Confucius replied, “We may not for that accord our approval of him.” “And what do you say of him who is hated by all the people of his neighbourhood?” The Master said, “We may not for that conclude that he is bad. It is better than either of these cases that the good in the neighbourhood love him, and the bad hate him.”

Yes.

Absolutely.

But after that start saving your money – because you’ll need to hire another one to teach you how to care again.

That’s how mistakes support our economy ; )

I’ve NEVER been to a psychologist so I might be totally off base. My understanding is that they don’t “teach” you what to do, but they “guide” you into making your OWN decisions that are right for you so you can get where you feel you need to go. In this case, they might “guide” you to determine that the importance of what others think of you is NOT as necessary as you seem to feel it is. They could show you how NOT giving them too much control over you life could be freeing on your part & once you find that peace that it can be very freeing for you!!! In the long run, YOU will be making most of the determination as to what is important & what’s NOT. The psychologist is NOT the one to make that determination for you!!! Maybe your psychologist can explain this to you better than I can, so ask on your next visit. That discussion will probably go for 2 or 3 sessions.

If I cared very much about what the opinion of what folks here think about me, I’d have left years ago! So find a goal, and make that goal your priority over opinions.

One thing to bear in mind is that the psychologist won’t teach how not to care what he thinks of you. Quite the opposite in fact.

@snowberry is right. Just being here and posting unpopular facts or opinions is a lesson in itself.
I can tell by your questions that you don’t want to cause controversy, as most of yours say humor welcome. Someday I’d love to see you post on a controversial question, and get to know the intellectual side of @RedDeerGuy1. :)

Yes and no

A psychologist can guide you through the process of learning to love yourself. They are guides; they don’t teach.

Once you love yourself, you will know whose regard you wish to maintain and whose to ignore.

@Hawaii_Jake Perfect!

No. Keep trying to achieve that on your own.

@SnipSnip You are absolutely wrong, and you never bother to read the thread. You are also rude.

Here’s something that might help in the interim.

https://mashable.com/article/how-to-stop-caring-what-others-think?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Manual&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR1EcZqgpuT8HI7EPXbmD3PDaeB_GAwGyQvBzL93I-KvChvNkr3IZiacbgo_aem_th_AQxpxqqsMvTXFimO40ZMcC_5IvhA3vpkUBc_q4gcZkpAZTIwuzTfzQp64LT4vAsctBE

Sure…why not? If you choose to pursue that course of action, go for it.

I’ve observed however that people who care about what other people think of them generally feel unloved and/or have low self esteem. They never learned that their self esteem cannot depend on anything or anyone other than themselves. Allowing these outside influences places them in a situation where their happiness continually fluctuates because the people and/or situations they allow to influence their happiness is unstable. These influences continually change therefore their happiness or self esteem continually changes.

If that psychologist is able to successfully communicate the necessity of loving yourself unconditionally you’ll find what other people think of you becomes irrelevant.