Rosemond style mental health article on kids (yup, controversial)
Found on Chabadtalk, what do you think?
a psychologist wrote the following:
Out of the blue, a preschool boy started taking sharp objects and using them to scratch himself, even drawingblood. His parents took him to a child therapist who asked a lot of questions, took a detailed history, and talked with the little boy. The therapist then told the parents that the little fellow was "hurting inside." He did not prescribe any solution, mind you. Rather, he tried to persuade them to enroll the boy in play therapy.
The parents smelled a rat. They agreed that none of this made sense. There was no reason for their son to be "hurting inside." His life was good. So, instead of enrolling their son in play therapy (which lacks any evidence of efficacy) they sat him down and told him, in no uncertain terms, to stop scratching and cutting himself. If he didn't, they were going to punish him. Period.
He stopped, immediately and forever. End of story. What does this say about the "science" of psychology? And psychologists and other mental health practitioners? Does it suggest that we don't know what we are doing? That we use the capital letters after our names to hide the fact that we are groping around in the dark?
Parents frequently ask me for referrals to child therapists. I usually caution parents against taking this step without first considering that intervention from a therapist can make a problem much worse. It can open cans of worms that are better left unopened. This is not mere opinion on my part.Study after study has found that for every three people who seek professional help, one gets better, one gets worse, and one stays the same. Furthermore, studies have found that the educational level of a person who is "counseling" another person has nothing to do with the outcome -- that a good friend is as likely to help you successfully resolve a problem as a person with a Ph.D. in psychology. What is more important than the person's educational level is how much they care and how successful they are at staying "removed" from the problem. Another study found that mental health professionals couldn't distinguish between people who were truly mentally ill and people who were merely pretending to be mentally ill.
I am a psychologist; however, I no longer believe in psychology. I regard it simply as the most powerful secular religion ever developed. Psychology fools some of the people all of the time, but it no longer fools me. I am convinced that if The Great Psychological Rapture suddenly occurred, if every mental health professional suddenly disappeared, vanished, the quality of life in America would improve considerably.
For one thing, parents would slowly but surely stop thinking that behavior problems are psychological issues and start dealing with them for what they are: behavior problems that require not "understanding" but firm, loving, intolerant discipline. As such, the behavior of children would improve. And what a great and wonderful thing that would be!!!!
a psychologist wrote the following:
Out of the blue, a preschool boy started taking sharp objects and using them to scratch himself, even drawingblood. His parents took him to a child therapist who asked a lot of questions, took a detailed history, and talked with the little boy. The therapist then told the parents that the little fellow was "hurting inside." He did not prescribe any solution, mind you. Rather, he tried to persuade them to enroll the boy in play therapy.
The parents smelled a rat. They agreed that none of this made sense. There was no reason for their son to be "hurting inside." His life was good. So, instead of enrolling their son in play therapy (which lacks any evidence of efficacy) they sat him down and told him, in no uncertain terms, to stop scratching and cutting himself. If he didn't, they were going to punish him. Period.
He stopped, immediately and forever. End of story. What does this say about the "science" of psychology? And psychologists and other mental health practitioners? Does it suggest that we don't know what we are doing? That we use the capital letters after our names to hide the fact that we are groping around in the dark?
Parents frequently ask me for referrals to child therapists. I usually caution parents against taking this step without first considering that intervention from a therapist can make a problem much worse. It can open cans of worms that are better left unopened. This is not mere opinion on my part.Study after study has found that for every three people who seek professional help, one gets better, one gets worse, and one stays the same. Furthermore, studies have found that the educational level of a person who is "counseling" another person has nothing to do with the outcome -- that a good friend is as likely to help you successfully resolve a problem as a person with a Ph.D. in psychology. What is more important than the person's educational level is how much they care and how successful they are at staying "removed" from the problem. Another study found that mental health professionals couldn't distinguish between people who were truly mentally ill and people who were merely pretending to be mentally ill.
I am a psychologist; however, I no longer believe in psychology. I regard it simply as the most powerful secular religion ever developed. Psychology fools some of the people all of the time, but it no longer fools me. I am convinced that if The Great Psychological Rapture suddenly occurred, if every mental health professional suddenly disappeared, vanished, the quality of life in America would improve considerably.
For one thing, parents would slowly but surely stop thinking that behavior problems are psychological issues and start dealing with them for what they are: behavior problems that require not "understanding" but firm, loving, intolerant discipline. As such, the behavior of children would improve. And what a great and wonderful thing that would be!!!!