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PaperclipPerfector  6mo ago (text post)   26051 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 29, 2024

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To conclude, is therapy helpful when administered by someone who knows what the fuck they're doing? Yes.

This point is the whole thing. I notice here that a lot of people seem to have complaints about "endless therapy" and "never getting better," but reputable, well trained therapy involves a constant progression towards "being done" (well typically anyway).

I suspect this is equal parts misunderstanding and a surplus of shitty therapists, which makes sense since it's far harder to regulate, train, and assess than "traditional" medicine.

Small amounts of therapy that anyone with diligence and training can do (like motivational interviewing) can radical improve care for any specialty.

Shit is good when done well. And even more fluffy and "less evidence based" therapy modalities like psychodynamic therapy work great when done by someone who cares and knows what they are doing (and are shocking similar to CBT anyway).

But one tenet of therapy culture is that therapy is never done, that everyone should be seeing a therapist and that therapy is about not just treating dysfunction but becoming a "better person". This is what I identify about therapy culture - that for many people it is a system of morality, replacing traditional systems of morality.

I am sure that some people exist who feel this way, but all of the therapists I know (which is bounded by these people being mostly physicians, or PHD/PsyD psychologists), think that shit is nuts (and have much displeasure with the popular presentation of therapy, mental illness and so on).

Indeed. When I need to send someone to a therapist, I tell them it's a sign of both confidence and competence when they make it clear that's there's a time limit for that. Either they note you making good progress, with an end goal in sight, or they tell you straight up that you're not a good fit and send you on.

Not that people can't need prolonged therapy, but maybe I'm just jaundiced from all the girls I've spoken to who should be wearing grippy socks. But they need Jesus, or his brother in the asylum.

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