There have been many big companies around here since I have opened my practice. Three that come to mind quickly were Polaroid, Digital Equipment Corp and Wang Labs. I used to like them because they all had great benefit packages and tried to take good care of their employees while they were making money. DEC and Polaroid were always two great companies to work for.
They only thing they did that hurt all their employees was go out of business. None of these three companies, and many others, lasted, because they couldn't turn the corner. They didn't see that a new world was taking shape around them. They had a model of operating that was successful, and they just kept following that success. Once you find something that works, its very, very hard to see when it's not working, especially if it did you so well in the past, and if there were always normal fluctuations.
When is a loss just a dip, and when is it the plunge of no return? You can't really know until it's too late.
In psychotherapy, with all the new technologies, and all of the new science, there are now many models of how to deal with emotional, psychological and behavioral difficulties. You can come and talk to me; which is the old model. Or you can take some complex new chemicals that may (or may not) affect your mind. You can take pictures of your brain with an exciting new brain observing machines. You can dip into your genetic code and try to rearrange things to alter you basic tendencies.
Some of these models have not had the kinks worked out of them yet. The odds are if you dip into your genetic code you may come out being a two-toed sloth, which may not be a bad life, but it is a risk.
But the model I have been using is old. It is very low-tech and inefficient. Some people come and see me for years and hardly change their lives that much at all. Treatment sometimes ends because I get bored. For many people this "talk therapy" model just doesn't work at all. For many cultures the idea of speaking about your strange inner thoughts to someone you don't know, to anyone really, would be a disgrace.
But so far, I continue to struggle along, using the same old model, adding a few new slide-steps, spin moves and slight-of-hand tricks to my repertoire, just to show that I keep up with the times. I don't think I will be the one to determine when the time has passed and other things work better.
So far, I don't see it happening. And the demand for my little dancing act is still strong. But high demand from the masses is no way to determine truth or validity. There is a high demand for the psychic around the corner, and she doesn't have to get pre-authorizations,
AND she does parties.
2 comments:
One thing I learned about the market is, it's very efficient.
80% of the people are always going to want the newer, improved version of something and they will always want what they perceive to be a quick fix - even if it doesn't really fix anything.
This works well enough with products but the situation gets muddled when it comes to services.
Because no matter how good of a therapist you are the result never depends on you alone.
You can lead the horse to water but you can't make him drink it.
I can imagine that some people may not change their lives very much with talk therapy, but the fact that people have a safe place to go and talk about their problems means a great deal to so many.
I like your honesty about terminating clients if they start boring you.
Also, thank you for stopping by my blog. Your comment and support means a great to me.
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