not included in this poll are prescription drugs and/or treatment facilities. here i refer specifically to the process of receiving consultation from someone on a regular basis in regards to one's own foibles, anxieties, catholic uprbringing, unflagging insomnia, etc....

i start therapy soon. i voted not crap because i'mfeeling hopeful on the outcome.

NOT CRAP because I honestly should see someone.

Your personality is constructed out of anger and fear. Stay in the dark, and you will relive patterns till you die, passing on your pain and unresolved grief to your children. Your secret self-hate will give you cancer and eradicate every good thing you try to do. Not Crap.

There is no such thing as cognitive therapy or psychotherapy in the nation I currently reside. Instead, there are serotonin reuptake inhibitors. In a success-driven, patriarchal Confucian society like this where ‘saving face’ is the law (and corruption and domestic abuse are rampant), psychotherapy would be a very, very good thing.

Not crap (though a good psychotherapist probably comes around as often as a good politician).

A sympathetic and unbiased ear?

Not crap.

Dylan wrote:A sympathetic and unbiased ear?

Dylan, How is it possible to be unbiased and sympathetic at the same time?

Carry Me Away wrote:

Dylan wrote:A sympathetic and unbiased ear?

Dylan, How is it possible to be unbiased and sympathetic at the same time?

I’m not Dylan, but I'll take a stab at this.

- Sympathetic in the sense that a good therapist believes that your pain or suffering is real and is there to assist you in healing.

- Unbiased in the sense that a good therapist is not involved in your personal, familial, or professional life and, as a rule, will not overlook your neuroses, pathologies, failings, and mistakes.

LAD wrote:There is no such thing as cognitive therapy or psychotherapy in the nation I currently reside. Instead, there are serotonin reuptake inhibitors. In a success-driven, patriarchal Confucian society like this where ‘saving face’ is the law (and corruption and domestic abuse are rampant), psychotherapy would be a very, very good thing.

This is almost exactly the complaint a japanese friend of mine has about her countrymen; that there is no psychoanalysis,self-reflection or objectivity in Japanese society.

My girlfriend highly recommends this process and it seems to be working for my boss, which in turn makes my life easier.

Not Crap

LAD wrote:

Carry Me Away wrote:

Dylan wrote:A sympathetic and unbiased ear?

Dylan, How is it possible to be unbiased and sympathetic at the same time?

I’m not Dylan, but I'll take a stab at this.

- Sympathetic in the sense that a good therapist believes that your pain or suffering is real and is there to assist you in healing.

- Unbiased in the sense that a good therapist is not involved in your personal, familial, or professional life and, as a rule, will not overlook your neuroses, pathologies, failings, and mistakes.

I think you make a pretty good me.