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Anonymous #1
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Are psychologists useless ?
#28046596 - 11/12/22 07:51 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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I've been to a couple of psychologists hoping to find someone that would help me, but they just gave me useless advices that were of no help at all. Do you have similar experiences ? What can somebody do if is in need of help and without much money ?
Regards
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WhoManBeing
PsychedelicYogi



Registered: 09/01/13
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Find a loved family member or a loving relationship, boy/girl friend to to bask in that which helps flutter the heart. That will overlay troubles and wash them away.
Also, diet most important. Happy Belly, happy mind.
-------------------- Hip, hip... WhoRAy!!! Eye was thinking the other day... ahh, thinking never done me no good.
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Anonymous #1] 1
#28047958 - 11/12/22 10:45 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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What's your problem?
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Kryptos
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Quote:
Anonymous #1 said: I've been to a couple of psychologists hoping to find someone that would help me, but they just gave me useless advices that were of no help at all. Do you have similar experiences ? What can somebody do if is in need of help and without much money ?
Regards
They seem to help people once you find the right one.
In my personal experience, they are useless. Actually, I think the most use that I got out of a psychologist back when I still tried to do that whole thing was just having a regularly scheduled event that I had to go to every week.
Psychologists are also very much a you get what you pay for thing.
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Cognitive_Entropy
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Kryptos]
#28058534 - 11/18/22 04:21 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Yeah I paid for one in the past to attempt to address my alcohol/benzo cravings and the high levels of anxiety I had at the time. Probably over 50 sessions and nothing she said was helpful at all. One of her suggestions was literally that when I get anxious, I should open microsoft word and type up what I feel anxious about and then play with the fonts and colors! WTF! I don't see what playing with colors is going to do for my anxiety about rising costs of living. None of it actually helped me not have the urge to drink. It was 100 percent stuff that I could find in one of those lame pamphlets about substance abuse. If anything, I got the impression that I knew more about addiction and the brain's response to it than she did. When I explained that it was the implementation of that that I was struggling with, she was like "well you just need to find a way to not give in".
I went to a couple free ones in grad school as well and they were equally worthless. I stopped seeing the paying one when she started feeling that she was worth $150 for each weekly 50 minute session (when I started it was $70). I can't believe some people actually pay her $600+ a month for information that can easily be found online. Actually it doesn't even need to be found online, most of the advice I was given was already obvious/ No shit sherlock type information.
I actually am disgusted by the price tag on that and refuse to pay it. Money is a significant source of anxiety for many people, if not the majority. 150 a week is a lot of money. People are effectively being priced out of "treatment" so that people with a soft science (pscyh) degrees can make $100+ per hour. It's insulting really that someone expects 150 dollars for listening to me talk for 50 minutes and offering what amounts to stock advice.
Edited by Cognitive_Entropy (11/18/22 04:27 PM)
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Kryptos
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Quote:
Cognitive_Entropy said: most of the advice I was given was already obvious/ No shit sherlock type information.
A lot of people need that.
Quote:
Cognitive_Entropy said: People are effectively being priced out of "treatment" so that people with a soft science (pscyh) degrees can make $100+ per hour. It's insulting really that someone expects 150 dollars for listening to me talk for 50 minutes and offering what amounts to stock advice.
Average psychologist makes about 45/hr.
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Buster_Brown
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Kryptos]
#28062936 - 11/21/22 08:58 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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A psychologist who examined me as a child gave me a questionnaire interspersed with "I am being chased by demons" LOL, now it's true tho.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



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I don't find my political or religious views aligned with popular psychologists, but there is something utilitarian about countless thousands of case histories.
Do you fit a certain profile?
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Buster_Brown
L'une


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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: durian_2008]
#28062998 - 11/21/22 10:03 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Enlightened, whereby special interest groups wear the label of demon.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Buster_Brown] 1
#28063007 - 11/21/22 10:14 AM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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See, it's a state-accredited institution.
I consider it harmless, for an enlightened person to compare notes and broaden his vocabulary.
You do run the risk of cyber-chondria, self-incrimination, and being colored through the lens of statism.
Some people are complete train wrecks, with no sense of orientation, in which case I would say that the message forced at the mission is better than nothing. The most pedantic, narcanon level of advice is still some point of demarcation, giving people something to hold on to, once they've gone off the deep end.
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Buster_Brown
L'une


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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: durian_2008]
#28063284 - 11/21/22 12:47 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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You seem knowledgeable. Would a regimen of enemas be considered standard procedure for a train wreck opioid user?
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asterix
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Quote:
I've been to a couple of psychologists hoping to find someone that would help me, but they just gave me useless advices that were of no help at all. Do you have similar experiences ? What can somebody do if is in need of help and without much money ?
Study, learn, and practice Buddhism.
What Is Jhana?
Edited by asterix (11/21/22 03:28 PM)
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



Registered: 04/02/08
Posts: 16,677
Loc: Raccoon City
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Quote:
Buster_Brown said: You seem knowledgeable. Would a regimen of enemas be considered standard procedure for a train wreck opioid user?
Since peristalsis has become sluggish or acclimatized to depressants, the patient is usually going to become spastic in withdrawals.
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



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Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: asterix]
#28063487 - 11/21/22 03:56 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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Quote:
asterix said: Study, learn, and practice Buddhism.
Yes, with no attachment.
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Land Trout
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: durian_2008] 3
#28063516 - 11/21/22 04:20 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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The one I saw as a teenager after a suicide attempt would tell me about psychedelic mushrooms, and talk about Wasson visiting Mexico, and Hoffman studying Lsd. Of course at the time I thought he was just some adult who I couldn’t really trust. He prescribed me Wellbutrin and that helped me survive wanting to end my life. I zoom with a councilor now, not sure if his title is psychologist or psychiatrist, it’s covered by insurance though, he’s a pro. We basically just have a dialogue and he’s trained and gifted at asking questions to get me to think about my feeling, and why I have them. It’s fucking handy as hell. Worth the couple hours a month
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durian_2008
Cornucopian Eating an Elephant



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Posts: 16,677
Loc: Raccoon City
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Land Trout]
#28063690 - 11/21/22 05:31 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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There's a saying about a psychologist, who is working out his own issues, so crazier than the intended patient.
Like I said, I can't argue with even the cheesiest, most-pedantic version of normalcy. I feel that it's the psych's job to lead you back to mediocre, average behavior that would seem normal to everyday people.
We can willfully choose to be weird, where that is appreciated most, in the appropriate venue.
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BikerB
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: durian_2008]
#28063979 - 11/21/22 08:46 PM (1 year, 2 months ago) |
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So, you're saying that English is a second language?
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Roflspammer
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: BikerB] 2
#28103092 - 12/18/22 08:03 AM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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Psychologists can be extremely useful; the issue is that in a market, those who are great know they are above average and charge appropriately. Depending on what you're struggling with, different modalities of therapy can help more. If you're dealing with shitty-life-syndrome, you should probably seek out an ACT trained therapist. If you're struggling with social anxiety or panic disorder, you should seek out a CBT trained therapist. If you are struggling with self-actualizing, you should seek out an existential therapist or psychoanalyst. If you are struggling with acute stress and inability to make decisions, you should seek out someone who provides supportive therapy. If you have borderline personality disorder, you should seek out a DBT trained therapist. If you are having a psychotic event, MDD episode, substance use disorder, ADHD, or bipolar disorder you should seek out a psychiatrist. If you are generally anxious or unsettled or neurotic, maybe mindfulness will work for you.
None of these are guaranteed to work, but they have great evidence with helping.
There are a couple issues here: one, it takes a long time to get to know someone and figure out what their actual problem is. You may say your father abusing you is the reason you are acting out, but perhaps its actually an impulsiveness issue and you have ADHD. If you're not matched to the correct modality, all the talking in the world is not going to help. Supportive therapy can't help you much if your struggles are more structural in nature than acute; you'll perceive this as "this isn't working" because supportive therapy is only a brief intervention.
The second issue is that psychology has become medicalized, so a diagnosis has to be made rapidly. You may not have monopolar MDD, instead you are neurotic and labile emotionally fitting more of a bipolar depression. There may not be enough time to elicit that information and then you get treated with the incorrect treatment. On top of this, there is such a high demand for psychological services that you may often find yourself referred to a social worker who is only trained in supportive therapy. There are only so many CBT trained psychologists, and psychologists usually are more left leaning so they concentrate in the coastal cities. Some areas of the country have exactly zero CBT trained therapists, and coastal cities have therapists with long waiting lists going out for months.
And finally, if you are matched to the correct therapeutic modality and you show up with a great therapist BUT you don't buy into it... it won't work. If this is the case for you, you would do well to continue going until you begin noticing that you are actually changing because of the therapy. If you don't actively participate ("buy into it") then you're not going to see any changes. And this makes intuitive sense; the trash doesn't get taken out if you don't take it out.
Hope this helps.
Edited by Roflspammer (12/18/22 08:16 AM)
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BikerB
Shucket Bitter


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Loc: Canada
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: Roflspammer]
#28103784 - 12/18/22 03:03 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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I doubt anyone could help Paw with his insecurities, lol
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Amanita86
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Re: Are psychologists useless ? [Re: BikerB]
#28103974 - 12/18/22 04:58 PM (1 year, 1 month ago) |
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You’re crying over here too
--------------------
Orange clock, pencil "They threw me off the hay truck about noon..."
*Mark 15:34  Gam zeh ya’avor...
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