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Old 09-17-2009, 10:28 PM
 
980 posts, read 1,141,688 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Huckleberry3911948 View Post
behavioral science terms are "silly"??? hummm. interesting post-- by people angry at MHS for whatever help they attempted to get and felt they didnt. i would say regardless of the disappoints far worse harm to the individual to stop receiving help, and then going into denial about their issues. the same individuals that post about the worthlessness of MHS also post on their utter sense of failure as to employment and personal relationships.
You seem to be implying that people who criticize Psychology are "losers."
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Old 09-17-2009, 10:41 PM
 
980 posts, read 1,141,688 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by yayoi View Post
Depression is lower in many of these so-called primitive societies because the people there usually have a strong network of family and friends. You could have a whole village or town where the people are largely interdependent. This is not the case in many western societies, especially in the U.S. where individualism is paramount.
You could make the same comparision between Traditional American Values and Modern American Values.
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Old 09-17-2009, 10:55 PM
 
980 posts, read 1,141,688 times
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Anxiety = Fear. Fear is a feeling, not a disease.

Depression = Discouraged = Humbled = Ashamed. Shame is a feeling, not a disease.

Regret = Remorse = Guilt. Guilt is a feeling, not a disease.

Incompetence is not a disease. However, it can be humbling, which makes people feel ashamed, even if they deny it. Which brings me to my next point, lying is not a disease, even if the person you lie to the most is yourself.
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Old 09-17-2009, 11:02 PM
 
Location: In the middle of nowhere with nothing
246 posts, read 536,705 times
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It depends on the situation, type of problem and how receptive the patient is to it.It can be much more useful than drugs depending on the the patient and how skilled the therapist is.Like drugs or medication it may need to be continued until the patient is better.The answer is no, it is not useless but has certainly become a token and ineffectual practice in many cases.
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Old 09-18-2009, 06:58 AM
 
Location: I think my user name clarifies that.
8,292 posts, read 26,591,248 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by artsyguy View Post
Is psychotherapy useless?

After all the cases and books I've read of disappointed clients and unethical therapists and counselors I've come to my conclusion that psychotherapy and psychology is virtually useless.

Your thoughts....let's be for real.
Psychology and psychotherapy are not the same thing. Related, yes, but not identical.


In answer to the OP question: No, psychotherapy is NOT useless.

However...

- Many people traipse off to a therapist every time they're the least bit sad about anything, when what they really need to do is just admit that life isn't always fun - then get on with it.

- There are psychotherapists who are more screwed up than most of the people they are "helping". This, of course, does nobody any good.

- Like very profession, there are people who are excellent at their trade, those who suck, and people of every caliber in between.


Much of the need for modern psychotherapists would be eliminated if we all had strong family relationships and good community relationships.
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Old 03-24-2011, 03:44 PM
 
2 posts, read 1,887 times
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First psychotherapy is a word - a name. Our concern is what happens in that relationship that goes under the name of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy is not useless. It serves uses. None of them for the individual who is called a patient.

If this be true what uses are served? The therapists? Will yes, only in the sense that the therapist sees themselves as the gatekeeper of society and it enforces those rules via the expulsion of the patient from society. Herein lies the danger of therapy.

It is naive to suggest that the descriptions of therapists of the individual whom they describe which is always degrading, serves no purpose. If one were to say therapy is like bad press, this ignores that bad press has a purpose - the destruction of the individual getting the bad press.

The point of therapy is to convince the individual that, as they are, they are in every conceivable detail not a preferred person. This is done to paint as preferred the worst types in the family and to justify them by describing all the character flaws, weaknesses, viciousness and cowardice as attributes of the patient when, in fact, they are the attributes of those the therapist imagines as the preferred individuals. It continues, thereby, the project started by the hostile members of the family.

Therapy is also an attack on the parents of the family as the faulty one, when they are no such thing. To this point, therapist work to convince the responsible ones as irresponsible, to convince those who have done the right things and have not done wrong things, that they don't do what they are supposed to and do what they are not supposed to.

Therapists, on other word, are at the center and pith of the Liberal inversion to call what is truthful a lie, call what is right wrong, to call strength weakness and to call protection cowardice. In short the purpose of therapy is the complete degradation of the individual preparatory to their expulsion for moral society in order to perpetuate social immorality.
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Old 03-25-2011, 11:27 AM
 
422 posts, read 646,870 times
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For my family and I it was useful. If you come from a culture that discourages open communication and honest discussion regarding feelings and struggles therapy can help you with that. If you are a whiny baby who wants someone else to solve your problems and "fix" you, it may lead to a life dependent on others and you never learn how to think for yourself.
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Old 03-25-2011, 02:01 PM
miu
 
Location: MA/NH
17,764 posts, read 40,050,968 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by artsyguy View Post
Is psychotherapy useless?

After all the cases and books I've read of disappointed clients and unethical therapists and counselors I've come to my conclusion that psychotherapy and psychology is virtually useless.

Your thoughts....let's be for real.
If the patient realizes that they have a problem(s) and really wants to be helped, then they can be helped through psychotherapy. But the patient is being forced to get help and they don't think that they have a problem, then I believe that in most cases, they can't be helped. Therapists are not mindreaders, so if the patient doesn't think that they have a problem, they can just lie and pretend to comply in order to keep the therapist thinking that they are getting better.

I worked with a woman that was required to go to therapy for her drinking problems in order to keep her job. But it didn't help since she didn't think that she had a problem with drinking. She just went to the required number of sessions and said whatever she thought that she had to say in order to get signed off on the treatment. In her case, therapy was a complete waste of time.
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Old 03-25-2011, 08:50 PM
 
4,043 posts, read 7,414,803 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Fred314X View Post
I tend to agree with you about psychotherapy. A very good friend of mine was in therapy for a long, long time. Apparently, as she described it to me, the idea was that by talking for extended periods of time, she would eventually get to the problem that was buried deep in her mind, and by having voiced it, would then be able to overcome it.
Just another one of the big 20th century frauds.

Notice the "if you talk for a very long time..." parallels the "if you give me your money for a very long time...".

If I talked to a really close and loyal friend/family instead, I would talk for much less time, with much better results, and for free.
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Old 03-26-2011, 12:21 PM
 
2 posts, read 1,887 times
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This confusion "If the patient realizes that they have a problem(s) and really wants to be helped, then they can be helped through psychotherapy. But the patient is being forced to get help and they don't think that they have a problem, then I believe that in most cases, they can't be helped. Therapists are not mindreaders, so if the patient doesn't think that they have a problem, they can just lie and pretend to comply in order to keep the therapist thinking that they are getting better." is a pinnacle of therapeutic weakness.

This statement is a bromide. The sickness of therapists is their description of the "problems" a person has. I know of no case where if someone reported a problem, the therapist accepted what they were told is the problem. Therapists believe the problem is that the person said what they said. In reality that there was a problem is why the patient said what they said.

The truth is that therapists define the problems. And their descriptions are fraudulent ambiguities that are meant to be accepted by the patient. Therapists often call a patient not accepting what they, the therapist, said as resistance. In fact not believing something is not believing it. Resistance has nothing to do with it.

Last edited by Lawrence in New York; 03-26-2011 at 12:23 PM.. Reason: Spelling error
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