Therapy (?)

My therapist told me to stop "whining like a little ponce" and that if he was my age he'd be "shagging everything in sight". "Try being married for 25 years to a cow like my wife... then you'd be bloody depressed!" He smelled like whiskey and roll-ups.

I was kidding

I did really see an NHS counsellor for depression for a while tho, but it didn't really help, tbh. She'd say things like "Well, wouldn't it be better to be happy, rather than sad?" She tried her best, but we weren't on the same wavelength. I think it just got to a point were I had to do things in my life, rather than just talk about problems.

Depression is a bit of a crutch for me, I can avoid doing stuff that might be difficult if I have the idea in my head that I'm not up to the job or there wouldn't be any point doing it anyway. Makes life very easy, but you wake up and realised you've wasted loads of time.

I went to a councellor who started the session with talking and finished with hypnotherapy when i was only sleeping about 2 days a week, my sleeping got a bit better and i carried on a bit more after that, got to the core of the problems, it was good stuff, i talked my ass off and got untangled even though i kinda knew what the problem was really. It was just getting confidence etc to get over it and the strength back thru being able to sleep again. Really glad i did it.

baboon2004 said:

I'm a bit sceptical of CBT and stuff like that - agree with what you say about that kind of counselling...it's all a bit self-help-bookish. Whereas I interpret therapy as coming to terms with bad shit that's happened, rather than ignoring it and talking about generic strategies

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I read a great interview with Mike Brierley in this months Prospect today. It's probably common knowledge but I had no idea, turns out that after standing down as England captain after the 1981 ashes he became a qualified psychoanalyst, and is now president of the British Psychoanalytical Society.

He talks about the distinction between psychoanalysis and CBT, and draws an analogy between the rise of CBT and the relative decline in NHS-prescibed, public funded long term psychotherapy with the rise of twenty20 and the apparently dwindling support of test cricket.

Might sound a bit gimmicky but it was good. An interesting point of comparison that the article brings up is the fact that CBT doesn't require practitioners to undergo therapy themselves before they qualify.

He basically argues that whilst CBT and short term therapy may be helpful in dealing with specific problems, it doesn't have the range of long term therapy. "Psychoanalysts are trying to free the person over a large range of his mind, his emotional being, his activities, his behaviours, his feelings, his creativity... to expand his mind. Which is why the term 'shrink' is so objectionable." He places "an emphasis on the intuitive, the unconscious, on what you can learn slowly, and that takes a great deal of time to get to." The article claims also that CBT and short term therary rest on fixed, inflexible ideas about happiness.

"Twenty20 is exciting, and good things can happen in it, but it's important to keep test cricket too. The skills derived from test cricket can underpin the twenty20 skills, and a greater range of cricketing ability and personality is revealed through five-day cricket than it is through twenty20. There are parallels to each of these points in the comparison between psychoanalysis and things like CBT."



Sorry for derailment and possible vapidity, I thought it was worth sharing!

swears said:

My therapist told me to stop "whining like a little ponce" and that if he was my age he'd be "shagging everything in sight". "Try being married for 25 years to a cow like my wife... then you'd be bloody depressed!" He smelled like whiskey and roll-ups.

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Cheered me up immediately!

My advice is:

1) You'll get out of therapy what you put into it. If you're just going to act bored and play games, you'll not get much out of it, and the therapist will stonewall. If you make a commitment to be emotionally honest and available (the hard part, much harder than it sounds) you'll wake up one day and realize, holy shit, I've made all of this progress without even realizing it.

2) If you feel you're not getting anything out of your sessions, don't be afraid to ask for a referral from either your doctor or a friend. Sometimes you just don't click with a specific doc and it can come down to personality. Something so personal is going to rely a lot on good communication and "vibing" in the same way friendships do.

3) In my own experience, therapy is great adjuctively but sucks if you're expecting it to do everything. Usually you need to try to get walks in, try to keep some kind of schedule, etc., and get the meds right.

UFO over easy said:

He basically argues that whilst CBT and short term therapy may be helpful in dealing with specific problems, it doesn't have the range of long term therapy. "Psychoanalysts are trying to free the person over a large range of his mind, his emotional being, his activities, his behaviours, his feelings, his creativity... to expand his mind. Which is why the term 'shrink' is so objectionable." He places "an emphasis on the intuitive, the unconscious, on what you can learn slowly, and that takes a great deal of time to get to." The article claims also that CBT and short term therary rest on fixed, inflexible ideas about happiness.

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In the U.S., CBT is primarily an adjunctive therapy, meaning it's never a "frontline" source--so you'd start with psychotherapy and then eventually supplement with CBT if your diagnosis fit the guidelines. I would be shocked if anyone told me they were "cured" through CBT alone, though.

I would guess the same would be true over here, but only if you could afford long term therapy, which isn't prescribed on the NHS very often.

Therapy humour can be a lot no doubt.

I saw my friend outside the psychiatrist's office and he said hi : 'are you coming or going?'
'If I knew that I wouldn't be here'

The Richard Prince one -
The doctor told me to tell him everything. I did and now he's doing my act

The one from Watchmen is great too.

I'll reserve comment on other aspects of this topic.

How many therapists does it take to change a light bulb?

Just one, but the bulb has to really want to change.



Ithankyou.

I have a strong suspicion that psychotherapists are deluded, dangerous mountebanks, peddling a pseudoscience that causes more problems than it ever solves, and often putting harmful and erroneous ideas into vulnerable people's heads. I'm not going to elaborate on that or back it up with any evidence, that's just how I feel about it.

The thing that really fucks me off about psychotherapists is their condescending and dismissive attitude to counsellers (and to a man, they cannot or will not avoid this). As if access to their arcane knowledge bestows upon them an elevated status in the human pecking order. How many years and how much money does it cost to become a qualified therapist? It's absolutely ludicrous. I know this much, because once upon a time I was going to do it. It didn't take much research to realise that it would be an extortionate waste of life, and make me even more of a cunt than I already am.

Having said all that, Baboon, I do hope you get the required help.

What's the difference between a psychotherapist and a counsellor, anyway? Is it basically a matter of formal qualifications?

Isn't a counsellor the type that tells you that you are likely going to fail, and a psychotherapist the kind that tells you that you won't?

Sick Boy said:

Isn't a counsellor the type that tells you that you are likely going to fail, and a psychotherapist the kind that tells you that you won't?

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I like that. Throw in a priest or a rabbi or something and you've got the bones of a half-decent joke there, I reckon.