I am so glad you wrote this article. As one with a social work background who switched to nutrition to identify endogenous root causes for mental health issues, I have found that many of my clients have been seeing their therapist for years with minimal results due to the very basic talk therapy approach. When I have asked my clients questions about the therapists role, I discovered that they basically do very little but listen every week or appear to be an enabler who the clients call when in a situation they cannot cope with rather than providing coping skills and technique. We don't need more pop-up therapy sites.
There is no such profession as "psychotherapist". There is an approach called "psychotherapy" but it is now so generic and watered down from the effective therapeutic approach historically offered by doctoral level psychologists that it has become meaningless. The correct focus should be on the professions like clinical psychology which offers valid psychotherapy.
Completely agree with all of this. What about people who have no easily identifiable “symptoms” but are just profoundly unhappy and don’t know what to do? Dysthymia? Hidden trauma? I guess skill building is the answer. I’m sure you’ve noticed all of these stupid online platforms have a “medication management” option - so disgusting.
I look forward to your piece on school based mental health clinics. My daughter went to a very rigorous k-12 private girls school that emphasized the mindset and grit work (Angela Duckworth etc.) from the get go. The books were required reading for parents. The school was free range and there was a psychologist in each division (elementary, middle and hs) that anybody could go see at any time- which my daughter took full advantage of. I think this was enormously helpful to her especially during the years her parents were divorcing. She is such a strong and healthy college girl now and I really attribute it all to this - it all started with the grit, mindset resilience work in kindergarten. I just don’t see how this could even be remotely possible in public school although I am convinced that this is what is needed. But I also think that there is a lot of trauma going on in the general population and schools could have a great role in troubleshooting. But as we all know …. Public health for mental health and childhood trauma is a fracking nightmare.
The school was rigorous/college predatory - feeder to the Ivy League etc. It was "free range" in that there was a lot of choice about where they could go/what they could do to get what they needed. Huge bowl of fruit in the cafeteria at all times for anyone who was hungry, choice of gym or library before and after school, the psychologists ('talking doctors") if anyone had big feelings or things they needed to talk about. Worked because classes were very small (11-14) and the teachers all excellent - great classroom management skills. Our public school system here - a majority of the "teachers" don't even have teaching certificates. if there is a staff counsellor it's for you guessed it - medication management.
The number of friends I have who seem to have gotten less mentally resilient AFTER therapy is significant. Many times when people recount their appointments it sounds more like they have a best friend who is giving them an excuse to indulge their darker emotions and fantasies instead of coming up with real life solutions. It's a sign of how truly lonely our culture is for a listening ear.
I think with child psychology, there can also be an issue of the child figuring out what the therapist (and the parents who sent the child there) want to hear, without any headway actually being made. My younger son is now 23 and I’m still dealing with his video game addiction, ADHD, and failure-to-launch issues. He does just enough to get by but has zero ambition for becoming an actual, functioning adult. His dad doesn’t believe in counseling at all (a big reason he became my ex 20 years ago) and since his dad retired recently, my son is about to lose his healthcare coverage and I will have to put him on Medi-Cal. I’d love to find him a life coach but funds are extremely limited and my son doesn’t think he needs any help. Are there any low cost resources that aren’t just “talk therapy” for a young man who doesn’t want to talk to anyone?
I am so glad you wrote this article. As one with a social work background who switched to nutrition to identify endogenous root causes for mental health issues, I have found that many of my clients have been seeing their therapist for years with minimal results due to the very basic talk therapy approach. When I have asked my clients questions about the therapists role, I discovered that they basically do very little but listen every week or appear to be an enabler who the clients call when in a situation they cannot cope with rather than providing coping skills and technique. We don't need more pop-up therapy sites.
There is no such profession as "psychotherapist". There is an approach called "psychotherapy" but it is now so generic and watered down from the effective therapeutic approach historically offered by doctoral level psychologists that it has become meaningless. The correct focus should be on the professions like clinical psychology which offers valid psychotherapy.
Completely agree with all of this. What about people who have no easily identifiable “symptoms” but are just profoundly unhappy and don’t know what to do? Dysthymia? Hidden trauma? I guess skill building is the answer. I’m sure you’ve noticed all of these stupid online platforms have a “medication management” option - so disgusting.
I look forward to your piece on school based mental health clinics. My daughter went to a very rigorous k-12 private girls school that emphasized the mindset and grit work (Angela Duckworth etc.) from the get go. The books were required reading for parents. The school was free range and there was a psychologist in each division (elementary, middle and hs) that anybody could go see at any time- which my daughter took full advantage of. I think this was enormously helpful to her especially during the years her parents were divorcing. She is such a strong and healthy college girl now and I really attribute it all to this - it all started with the grit, mindset resilience work in kindergarten. I just don’t see how this could even be remotely possible in public school although I am convinced that this is what is needed. But I also think that there is a lot of trauma going on in the general population and schools could have a great role in troubleshooting. But as we all know …. Public health for mental health and childhood trauma is a fracking nightmare.
The school was rigorous/college predatory - feeder to the Ivy League etc. It was "free range" in that there was a lot of choice about where they could go/what they could do to get what they needed. Huge bowl of fruit in the cafeteria at all times for anyone who was hungry, choice of gym or library before and after school, the psychologists ('talking doctors") if anyone had big feelings or things they needed to talk about. Worked because classes were very small (11-14) and the teachers all excellent - great classroom management skills. Our public school system here - a majority of the "teachers" don't even have teaching certificates. if there is a staff counsellor it's for you guessed it - medication management.
The number of friends I have who seem to have gotten less mentally resilient AFTER therapy is significant. Many times when people recount their appointments it sounds more like they have a best friend who is giving them an excuse to indulge their darker emotions and fantasies instead of coming up with real life solutions. It's a sign of how truly lonely our culture is for a listening ear.
I think with child psychology, there can also be an issue of the child figuring out what the therapist (and the parents who sent the child there) want to hear, without any headway actually being made. My younger son is now 23 and I’m still dealing with his video game addiction, ADHD, and failure-to-launch issues. He does just enough to get by but has zero ambition for becoming an actual, functioning adult. His dad doesn’t believe in counseling at all (a big reason he became my ex 20 years ago) and since his dad retired recently, my son is about to lose his healthcare coverage and I will have to put him on Medi-Cal. I’d love to find him a life coach but funds are extremely limited and my son doesn’t think he needs any help. Are there any low cost resources that aren’t just “talk therapy” for a young man who doesn’t want to talk to anyone?
Some unsolicited help with sub-heading: "fewer" (versus "less" ~ "less therapists" is incorrect).