Black Jack Posted March 16, 2012 Posted March 16, 2012 How is their training not really training? Since when do they make accusations of give opinions. The point of therapy is to allow a person to explore what HE or SHE wants to do with his or her life. Therapy is not about living the way the therapist says. You really don't seem to a good grasp of what therapy is. And they give their opinions on the situation. It's not just them sitting there staring and not saying nothing. It's not a true profession. It's all pop-psychology. You really need to do your own research.
Diamonds&Rust Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 It seems you don't even know their training is not really training at all. Sorry, I thought you were serious. Sure they don't have an obligation to check and verify, but making baseless accusations about the other partner is hardly what I would call professional. That's not the role of a therapist. If you first misinterpret the job of a therapist, and then call their hypothetical behavior unprofessional, that can't be blamed on therapists. The whole point of their job is to give their opinion. Doctors will sometimes give opinions, but a diagnosis is not the same thing as advice. Additionally, most therapists are not doctors and do not give medical opinions. It's all pop-psychology. That doesn't even make sense. Even if you have a disdain for psychology in general, to define clinical psychology as pop-psychology renders the word meaningless. You really need to do your own research.Where did you do yours? The Church of Scientology? Be honest.
Black Jack Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Sorry, I thought you were serious. I'm sure you're not. That's not the role of a therapist. If you first misinterpret the job of a therapist, and then call their hypothetical behavior unprofessional, that can't be blamed on therapists. Doctors will sometimes give opinions, but a diagnosis is not the same thing as advice. Additionally, most therapists are not doctors and do not give medical opinions. We're not talking about doctors. That doesn't even make sense. Not surprised it doesn't make sense to you. Even if you have a disdain for psychology in general, to define clinical psychology as pop-psychology renders the word meaningless. Another moot accusation. I never said anything about clinical psychology Where did you do yours? The Church of Scientology? Be honest. I'm not religious, sir.
carhill Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 (edited) If the person is in a relationship and there are issues in the relationship, meaning between the persons, then a couple's therapist should be employed to examine the relationship with both persons and the relationship being the client. If a person has mental/emotional issues on their own, such as drug/alcohol abuse, violence/molestation in their past, infidelity, etc, etc, then I can see the efficacy of an IC. Generally, an IC is contra-indicated in relationship dynamics as a stand-alone therapy. Also, there are bad/incompatible therapists. Just like their clients, they are human and humans are imperfect. Having been through the process (MC) I could see how it could go either way. Our way was D but it could just as easily been a healthier M. The variable was us. Also, reading the thread, for clarity, our MC was/is a forensic clinical psychologist with special education in abuse and I don't ever recall him recommending feeling or acting in one way or another. His role was to foster examination and reflection and learning and clarity. IMO, he did well. Edited March 17, 2012 by carhill
KathyM Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Just to clear up some misconceptions that some people might have, therapists (counseling psychologists) have to have many years of college education (6 to 10 years), and attain a Master's Degree or Doctorate Degree in Psychology. In addition to those many years of college education, they have to have thousands of hours of internship as a counselor while supervised by a licensed psychologist (and I'm talking 4,500 hours of internship or more). After all of this, they have to take a gruelling test administered by the state where they have to know all of the diagnostic criteria for all of the hundreds of psychological disorders, as well as all the major forms of therapy (and there are dozens of them) and all the therapeutic techniques involved with each form of therapy. That is an incredible amount of information, and only after they pass the state licensing exam, are they allowed to counsel people. They also have to take many hours of continuing education after licensure to make sure they are up-to-date on all new information that comes up in their field. Many also take additional training in order to specialize in a certain form of therapy. Anyone who says therapists are not well trained doesn't know what he's talking about. Some therapists are better than others, of course, just like some medical doctors are better than others. But to say they are not well trained is a false statement. 3
setsenia Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Exactly and even after all that education, not everyone is meant to be a therapist. A lot of them could go into research or psychiatry. I've had therapy for years throughout my life and a good therapist DOES NOT tell you what to do. Based on what you tell them, they give you options basically on what you can do to improve the situation. They never tell you what to do. Sometimes I wish they would when I'm in an extreme need of guidance, but I've come to realize why they don't. Your decisions should be based on what you want and what feels right to you. There are always a few bad apples in the profession like the counselor my husband saw a few times. He overall didn't care for her personality. She was very stern and hard to open up to in the first place. That and not all counselors are right for you, you have to find the perfect "fit".
threebyfate Posted March 17, 2012 Posted March 17, 2012 Therapy = meta If you understand the above equation, you will understand what therapy is about.
SincereOnlineGuy Posted March 18, 2012 Posted March 18, 2012 This isn't a specific situation that I'm in right now but something I've had some experience with and have seen it happen to others. Have you noticed that very often when a woman in a relationship goes to see a therapist, for whatever reason, that the therapist often (rightly or wrongly) somehow convinces them that their relationship is bad for them and they end up breaking up or divorcing soon thereafter? I've heard of multiple women divorcing or almost divorcing their husbands while in therapy only to be really upset and regret the decision later. I had a similar experience with one of my girlfriends a while back which prompted me to wonder. What's up with this? You're not analyzing the data completely. Instead you're just seeing symptoms and not recognizing underlying problems. Consider that moronic observation that "50% of all marriages end in divorce"... well yeah, if the media wants to trump raw statistics, that number isn't far from true, but if you were analyzing the underlying mathematics, and not just grasping for the first thing you recognize, you'd observe that the good and unaffected human minds in this world quite typically marry once and mate for life. The bad ones marry early, then divorce relatively fast, only to marry again and again and again. By the end, the bad ones have married 3 or 4 times as many people as have the good ones, tainting one or more of those potentially-innocent partners along the way. You could analyze only the data so far in my post here and conclude in misleading fashion that "80% of all marriages end in divorce". Women who are finally taking the step that is going to therapy are often already long past the point where they should have left the relationship. The sooner they leave those bad eggs, the better their chances of not having been permanently tainted by said eggs so as to limit any hope they have of marrying for (the rest of) a lifetime instead of for the springtime. Their alternative is to sit around, interacting with others online, and merely waiting for some equally bad potential suitor to lure them (in unhealthy fashion) out of their relationships. The whole point of therapy is to develop a trusting relationship with at least SOMEone...
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