It's too negative. There is no spirituality. There is no hopeful, inspirational, uplifting (unrealistic) message.
That's true.
But, this is what I have come to believe. (I could be wrong, but I'm not).
You, and me, and all of us current day humans, are the result of the complex interaction of who we are physiologically, with everything that has happened to us since we were born.
That means you begin with the DNA you have been given, which gives you physical characteristics, along with a certain individualized temperament. Then you have many interactions, such as with your parents, your environment, the culture, the food, the air, the architecture, your siblings, your friends, your teachers, and all kinds of media. These interactions determine whether certain pre-dispositions in your DNA get expressed through the interaction with your RNA, proteins, and other expressors or inhibitors. In other words, you learn things.
Some of the learning is conscious, some you just absorb. You form relationships. Your form habits. Sometimes they are the same thing.
There is psychotherapy and there is psychiatry.
The former, which is what I do, deals with the experiential end of it. As a therapist I try to create positive experiences that will help my clients move their lives in a certain direction.
Psychiatry, for the most part, at this time, deals with the biological They are reductionistic. They feel that if they can regulate your chemicals then you will feel differently. Which is true, to some extent. More true for some people than others.
As a therapist, I really have very few weapons to create these new experiences. I can talk to my clients. I can make funny faces, show a few dance moves, juggle, whistle and clap. But basically all I can do is create an experience.
I don't give drugs, do surgery, sprinkle fairy dust, lay-on hands, invoke spirits, or use highly focused proton beams.
I did get a phone call yesterday from a woman I have not seen for three years. She called to thank me for the work I did with her and her sister. She said they were both talking about it and that they felt that if they had not met with me they both would probably be dead now. She said thanks. She didn't even leave a number.
I guess, sometimes it's enough.
3 comments:
It's too negative
I beg to differ. :)
sometimes "just being there" is enough.....
hmmmm. i could write a book on the experiences i have had with phychiatrists and therapists alone. the good, the bad, and the ugly. to include the ones who "saved my life", or my marriage. and the ones who caused me to have homicidal/suicidal thoughts which led to hospitalization..mine of course. and also one who i really think belonged in some sort of institution herself! phew. she was strange. i fired her...yet she sent ME a letter firing ME! OMG. i beleive she was schitzoid. anyhow.
what you do is extremely important. it can be life saving...or it can be very destructive. (not just "you"...i mean people in your feild of work). but really... there aren't enough "good" therapists out there anymore. i haven't sought counseling in that sense for several years...not since the schitzo one..i think that was like 2003 ish. anyhow. before her, i saw one who was telling me to eat yogurt and exercise, and i would get better. good LORD. not quite. but anyhow. keep it up. sounds like you're one who needs to stick around.
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