Food for Thought; The Therapy Culture

[skeptic]

The link to Reason below discusses therapy and its repercussions on our ego-centric generation, as the author suggests. There are a number of observations that really do lend themselves to a serious concern with overdoing therapy. Certainly thought provoking I found.

 

http://reason.com/archives/2014/05/27/could-therapy-culture-help-explain-ellio

[qwazse]

This is a crap piece that judges therapy based on stereotypes. Discard it.

 

The kid was in therapy because he was a sociopath. Folks just didn't realize how much of one he was. Sometimes you catch 'em before they start their spree. Sometimes (as my colleagues sadly experienced two years ago) you don't.

 

It's the cost of doing business in the absence of institutions that can keep patients under lock and key for extended periods so that the only folks they eventually act out on are caretakers and fellow patients and the tools at their disposal are less efficient than firearms.

 

On the bright side, society has benefited from the majority of mentally ill being in our midst rather than locked out of sight and out of mind. We've all become better "therapists." That counts for something, but it doesn't make the news cycle.

[skeptic]

"This is a crap piece that judges therapy based on stereotypes. Discard it."

 

Did you actually read beyond the first paragraph?

 

There are a number of areas discussed that should make us think a bit. While you may not agree, certainly there are valid points brought up; I have seen examples more than once. More than once we have seen over zealous theapists cause irrepairable damage to parents and families by convincing someone they have been mistreated in some manner, when in reality it was "planted" so to speak by the therapy sessions.

 

The piece also goes beyond the actual therapy and touches on the general malaise in society of the self centered, egocentric individuals who do not understand the difference between freedom and license and think somehow they are not responsible for their own actions. We see related problems in the over-diagnosis of learning disabilities and prescribing of drugs to deal with difficult kids.

 

 

[T2Eagle]

Yup, crap piece. No statistical ties of the actual people who are in therapy with whether they are over represented in the various cultural behaviors the author doesn't like. Also no statistics comparing the outcomes and well being of folks receiving help in the time before as much help was available to those with mental health issues with outcomes and well being of folks receiving help today.

 

Finally, the author talks about an insidious therapy industry, and although there are certainly some therapists who do well financially, the majority of being actually delivering mental health services are at the very low end of the income scale for health providers and other occupations requiring professional training, licensure, and degrees.

[Tampa Turtle]

I think it was an opportunistic opinion piece. I learned more by reading the kid's "biography"--yup, I think sociopath was the right call. I have met 1 or 2 (one was basically benign). I think some therapy can be useful but there is a component of it that is so non-judgemental as to be useless.

[Scouter99]

I think it was an opportunistic opinion piece.

Actually, as the article noted, the effects of therapeutic culture have been a matter of study for decades.

 

I've uploaded a more in-depth discussion of its genesis and effects taken from a history of the 80s, Transforming America from Columbia Univ Press. It's 5.5 pages, so not a long read. It begins on the very bottom of page 151 under the heading "The Therapeutic Culture" https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B49...it?usp=sharing