When people talk about “therapy” here, they most likely are thinking of bog-standard talk therapy, where you just go in and kinda, well, talk to someone about your life, problems, etc.
For some people, it’s enough to just get things off their chest, talk about things out loud with someone and helps them deal with their issues. I personally see such a therapist monthly and find it beneficial to my mental health.
For others, especially those with more intense troubles and traumas, it may not be, and would probably be served better by someone more specialized with said traumas.
Like any medical profession, the quality of individual therapists and mental health experts can vary widely, from chuds to libs to comrades and everything in-between. there’s a solid chance you may not get the perfect fit on try 1, I didn’t.
I just feel like some people are dipping their toes into Scientology-ish “all therapy is bad, never seek professional help for your problems” stuff, which I think is disastrous advice.
Maybe, but I’m also tired of “get therapy” or “go see a therapist” as this pithy response people online have.
It’s this weird mix of like…contempt and condescension where they basically just cast you aside while feigning concern for your emotional well-being.
Therapy is just confession for secular pmc liberals who can afford it.
It makes them feel self-righteous for going to some shrink and talking about how sometimes they feel sad and they look down on other people who can’t afford it or who have actual mental problems it doesn’t help.
I think your frustration is understandable and quite justified, especially because “get help” “you need therapy” and especially “who hurt you?” are used as pithy concern-trolling putdowns and ways to belittle people on the internet.
I admit I have a similar personal frustration (in addition to the above, sick of hearing that) with “just do (drug) bro, don’t be a (slur) bro” proposals flung at me. I’m not sure if you’ve had a similar experience there, but to me, the presumption that whatever ailed me would be cured if I just took a big enough hit of something (and I did try a few things in college; who didn’t?) felt similarly dismissive, especially if I didn’t respond with the results they expected.
it’s this same underlying ideology of “your suffering isn’t real, your sadness isn’t real, your anger isn’t real. i don’t feel any of those things so you shouldn’t either. your brain is just bad and needs fixing” (definition of fixing left up to specific person stating this)
I’m a therapist. If any therapist ever tells you your suffering isn’t real, fire them. I’ve mostly been working with kids (under 21) for years. Typically, while all the kids I see have real problems, the kid sent to the therapist is the healthiest one in the family. So yeah, people who aren’t in therapy who try to send people to therapists usually need it more.
I can’t help but be reminded of this old meme:
Really interesting perspective.
I have a higher opinion of confession tbh
At least its free and you get some degree of community out of church that can help you (in usually ineffectual ways but hey its better than a therapist which won’t help you if you go homeless due to your issues)