Know thyself.
A long while back, shadowfae asked me for my thoughts on therapy after I commented that I clearly see it different than other people. I've got a few quiet moments, so I figured I'd write them down.
If a person must be set into 'pro-therapy' or 'anti-therapy' camps, I'm heavily in the pro-therapy. I've been to therapy, to psychatrists, and I'm also married to a Jungian psychoanalyst and a man who's been to plenty of therapy himself.
I see therapy as a tool to be used to get to my end goal, which is to be a better person and to know myself better. The constant stereotype that people who go to therapy/take antidepressants or medications/etc are somehow weak and broken and lesser is both obnoxious and painfully damaging. I can think of very few people in the world who would not benefit from someone to talk to about things that bother them, and who can offer a second opinion. I can think of almost no one who doesn't have a phobia, a few strange behaviors that cause them problems, bad things that happen in the past that they're upset by, or any other thing that they have problems with. Why would you not want to work on being happier?
This doesn't mean that I think every therapist in the world is good or that anti-depressants aren't horrifically over prescribed. I just think it's like doctors. Some are good, some are bad, most help more than they hurt.
If you have a broken leg, would anyone consider you mentally weak and silly if you went to get a cast put on? Not anyone I'd want to talk to. If you've got tonsilitis or sinusitis or some other bacterial infection, maybe you'll get better fine on your own. But doctors are there to make it easier. If your body doesn't produce enough insulin, clearly injections help and it's not your fault. But if your body doesn't produce the right amount of neurotransmitters, well, then, you're a wimp and useless and dependent on anti-depressants.
I just wish that the world would stop being so hard on people who use the tools at their disposal to be happier. I see nothing at all wrong with therapy, and I'd delight in going myself simply to have an hour to delve into my deepest thoughts.
Except, of course, that I have hydrargirium for that. :)
So, when I tell someone that I think therapy might help, it's more of a compliment than an insult. It's my way of saying that I see how hard they are working to become the best, happiest person that they can be, and my way of suggesting things I have known to make that journey a little easier.
Make sense? :)
If a person must be set into 'pro-therapy' or 'anti-therapy' camps, I'm heavily in the pro-therapy. I've been to therapy, to psychatrists, and I'm also married to a Jungian psychoanalyst and a man who's been to plenty of therapy himself.
I see therapy as a tool to be used to get to my end goal, which is to be a better person and to know myself better. The constant stereotype that people who go to therapy/take antidepressants or medications/etc are somehow weak and broken and lesser is both obnoxious and painfully damaging. I can think of very few people in the world who would not benefit from someone to talk to about things that bother them, and who can offer a second opinion. I can think of almost no one who doesn't have a phobia, a few strange behaviors that cause them problems, bad things that happen in the past that they're upset by, or any other thing that they have problems with. Why would you not want to work on being happier?
This doesn't mean that I think every therapist in the world is good or that anti-depressants aren't horrifically over prescribed. I just think it's like doctors. Some are good, some are bad, most help more than they hurt.
If you have a broken leg, would anyone consider you mentally weak and silly if you went to get a cast put on? Not anyone I'd want to talk to. If you've got tonsilitis or sinusitis or some other bacterial infection, maybe you'll get better fine on your own. But doctors are there to make it easier. If your body doesn't produce enough insulin, clearly injections help and it's not your fault. But if your body doesn't produce the right amount of neurotransmitters, well, then, you're a wimp and useless and dependent on anti-depressants.
I just wish that the world would stop being so hard on people who use the tools at their disposal to be happier. I see nothing at all wrong with therapy, and I'd delight in going myself simply to have an hour to delve into my deepest thoughts.
Except, of course, that I have hydrargirium for that. :)
So, when I tell someone that I think therapy might help, it's more of a compliment than an insult. It's my way of saying that I see how hard they are working to become the best, happiest person that they can be, and my way of suggesting things I have known to make that journey a little easier.
Make sense? :)