Re:Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
by jschwartzi on Saturday July 14, 2018 @11:08AM
(#17530613)
It's not really about being able to change yourself, it's about wanting to change so much that you're willing to put in the work. When I did it I had to unlearn a bunch of mental habits, but I also had to change my environment and seek things that were outside of what I knew. Therapy would have done nothing for me if I had let the therapist do all the work. I'm my case the work was to find a new way of living that is aligned with who I am and what I want for myself.
When I went in I had some major anxiety problems, and by working with my therapist I was able to identify where those problems came from. I started taking steps to change how I lived so I wasn't as anxious anymore.
Re:Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
by jm__87 on Saturday July 14, 2018 @03:04PM
(#17531806)
Blaming the patient for having a bad attitude just makes the profession of psychotherapy look ineffectual.
What sort of magic are you expecting from psychotherapy? You're paying someone to help you solve your problems. You're not paying someone to solve your problems for you.
Re:Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
by eeZah7Ux on Saturday July 14, 2018 @04:04PM
(#17532077)
Modern advertising is based on psychology. It works surprisingly well even when people try to resist it.
Re:Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
by jm__87 on Saturday July 14, 2018 @04:16PM
(#17532139)
Advertisers nudge you to do something you sort of already want to do. The amount of effort required to buy things is minimal and buying things you want to buy is usually enjoyable.
On the other hand, going to therapy is forcing yourself to do something that is difficult, sometimes painful and requires a lot of effort and resources (both time and money). I don't see the relationship between voluntarily going to therapy and advertising inducing you to buy things.
Re:Have we overestimated the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
by davidpatrick on Saturday July 14, 2018 @11:14AM
(#17530632)
While it does require your participation for success, you are paying the professional for the tools to help yourself. And sometimes others aren’t able to help themselves, and the professional’s job is to help them discover how to.
"You have to be willing to help yourself" is perilously close to "psychotherapy only works on people who are capable of changing of their own volition", which calls into question the entire purpose of psychotherapy. If I could change my way of thinking through sheer force of will, why would I pay a professional $100 an hour to sit and listen while I do it? It evokes the classic defence of the quack - the spoon only bends if you truly believe in the power of the mind.
If that problem is framed as "some patients are too sick to treat", then at least it shifts the burden of responsibility onto the therapist; it's not the patient's fault that the psychotherapist lacks the neccesary tools to facilitate change. Blaming the patient for having a bad attitude just makes the profession of psychotherapy look ineffectual.