Thanks for your comments. I think the problem is very complicated. Yes, forced treatment should be outlawed, but I don’t agree with you that psychotherapy is what gets people hooked and that most helping professionals are con artists. I believe that the majority of helping professionals have good intentions. Unfortunately, they just don’t realize that what they are doing causes more harm than good. I think the teaching, training , schooling is the biggest part of the problem of why the helping profession is in such a mess. Just like most young new parents don’t intend to mess up their kids. They just have no clue about good parenting.
Our whole system needs changing for sure and that mostly means teaching people that there is no such thing as mental illness and taking away power from psychiatrists !
Thanks for your comments. I don’t think I wrote my article very clearly. I am not suggesting that a good therapist is the best choice for people in general or the best person to talk with and be with in order to heal.
I was trying to contrast what a good psychotherapist does ( if you can find one ) compared to what most psychiatrists and psychologists do in their work. Most people who can afford therapists seek them out precisely because nobody in their lives has ever listened to them or taken them seriously. If you have loving family members or a good friend you may not need or want to see a therapist. Judith Herman ( Trauma and Recovery ) writes that for people who have survived trauma, re establishing safety in one’s life is primary. Once safety has been established one can remember, mourn and grieve , and then eventually begin to re establish a sense of community. There is no recipe for this process and I didn’t mean to suggest that one can only benefit by seeing a therapist. Whatever works for people I applaud.
However, I do disagree with you about paying a therapist. I don’t think that money is the issue. I would have no problem paying someone I truly want to be with because he or she would not diagnose me or try to work through my childhood or do EMDR. A good therapist would attend to me and keep company with me to help relieve some of my loneliness and alienation. They would create a safe space for me so I would eventually be able to teach them about me. My hunch is that the therapists / psychiatrists you were paying were not qualified and were not people who you connected with and felt safe with. I do think that probably 98% of psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists do more harm than good. It means that you would need to search far and wide to find a good therapist if you need one and are able to do that.
No easy answers out there, but one thing is for sure: the current support system sucks big time and most professionals are still in the dark when it comes to helping others.
And lastly, a good therapist would first realize that in order to become one, he or she would have to forget everything that they were taught in school about counselling, psychology, or psychiatry!
Pretty bad current state of affairs I must say.
Hi Stephen
Thanks for your comment.
In essence I do agree with you, but it isn’t expertise or guidance that a good therapist or a friend can provide. It is attention, support, safety, and encouragement. Sometimes when we feel lost ot cut off from ourselves and alienated, it is the relationship between us that can be heipful for us to heal and to be able to rediscover ourselves. From then on, we can reconnect to our own experience and our desires and become our own “experts”.
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
I totally agree with you.
A good therapist is very costly and likely there are only a handful of good ones to be found throughout the world. It is a big mistake to believe that by going to university to get the credentials to become a psychotherapist that it will teach you how to become one. You would first have to forget almost everything they teach you!
A good friend or loving stranger or any safe connection one can find that doesn’t cost money can be just as good as any good therapist.
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
Laing also didn’t believe in the notion of mental illness or schizophrenia.
Not sure why Szasz was critical of him.
He did believe that people suffered though because of being hurt, betrayed or badly treated by others, and he believed that there was a general lack of love in the world.
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
My article was not intended to offer a remedy for the psychiatric system.
I was trying to describe how easy it is for one to be misinformed and to inadvertently get caught up in a tangled web.
I agree with you that remedy is political activism. Unfortunately, in providing “help” psychiatry most often uses its power to coerce and exploit the most vunerable and powerless people. However, I do believe that many people who have been treated badly and have experienced trauma can benefit from healing in some way in order to start fresh and become whole again. Whether that is done by oneself or with a friend, or with a one in a million good therapist, it can possibly be helpful.
Alan
Thanks for your comments. I think the problem is very complicated. Yes, forced treatment should be outlawed, but I don’t agree with you that psychotherapy is what gets people hooked and that most helping professionals are con artists. I believe that the majority of helping professionals have good intentions. Unfortunately, they just don’t realize that what they are doing causes more harm than good. I think the teaching, training , schooling is the biggest part of the problem of why the helping profession is in such a mess. Just like most young new parents don’t intend to mess up their kids. They just have no clue about good parenting.
Our whole system needs changing for sure and that mostly means teaching people that there is no such thing as mental illness and taking away power from psychiatrists !
Report comment
Thanks for your comments. I don’t think I wrote my article very clearly. I am not suggesting that a good therapist is the best choice for people in general or the best person to talk with and be with in order to heal.
I was trying to contrast what a good psychotherapist does ( if you can find one ) compared to what most psychiatrists and psychologists do in their work. Most people who can afford therapists seek them out precisely because nobody in their lives has ever listened to them or taken them seriously. If you have loving family members or a good friend you may not need or want to see a therapist. Judith Herman ( Trauma and Recovery ) writes that for people who have survived trauma, re establishing safety in one’s life is primary. Once safety has been established one can remember, mourn and grieve , and then eventually begin to re establish a sense of community. There is no recipe for this process and I didn’t mean to suggest that one can only benefit by seeing a therapist. Whatever works for people I applaud.
However, I do disagree with you about paying a therapist. I don’t think that money is the issue. I would have no problem paying someone I truly want to be with because he or she would not diagnose me or try to work through my childhood or do EMDR. A good therapist would attend to me and keep company with me to help relieve some of my loneliness and alienation. They would create a safe space for me so I would eventually be able to teach them about me. My hunch is that the therapists / psychiatrists you were paying were not qualified and were not people who you connected with and felt safe with. I do think that probably 98% of psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists do more harm than good. It means that you would need to search far and wide to find a good therapist if you need one and are able to do that.
No easy answers out there, but one thing is for sure: the current support system sucks big time and most professionals are still in the dark when it comes to helping others.
And lastly, a good therapist would first realize that in order to become one, he or she would have to forget everything that they were taught in school about counselling, psychology, or psychiatry!
Pretty bad current state of affairs I must say.
Report comment
Thanks for your kind and thoughtful comments Rosalee !
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Sounds good to me.
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Hi Stephen
Thanks for your comment.
In essence I do agree with you, but it isn’t expertise or guidance that a good therapist or a friend can provide. It is attention, support, safety, and encouragement. Sometimes when we feel lost ot cut off from ourselves and alienated, it is the relationship between us that can be heipful for us to heal and to be able to rediscover ourselves. From then on, we can reconnect to our own experience and our desires and become our own “experts”.
Report comment
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
I totally agree with you.
A good therapist is very costly and likely there are only a handful of good ones to be found throughout the world. It is a big mistake to believe that by going to university to get the credentials to become a psychotherapist that it will teach you how to become one. You would first have to forget almost everything they teach you!
A good friend or loving stranger or any safe connection one can find that doesn’t cost money can be just as good as any good therapist.
Report comment
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
Laing also didn’t believe in the notion of mental illness or schizophrenia.
Not sure why Szasz was critical of him.
He did believe that people suffered though because of being hurt, betrayed or badly treated by others, and he believed that there was a general lack of love in the world.
Report comment
Hi
Thanks for your comment.
My article was not intended to offer a remedy for the psychiatric system.
I was trying to describe how easy it is for one to be misinformed and to inadvertently get caught up in a tangled web.
I agree with you that remedy is political activism. Unfortunately, in providing “help” psychiatry most often uses its power to coerce and exploit the most vunerable and powerless people. However, I do believe that many people who have been treated badly and have experienced trauma can benefit from healing in some way in order to start fresh and become whole again. Whether that is done by oneself or with a friend, or with a one in a million good therapist, it can possibly be helpful.
Alan
Report comment