Page 4 | The ideological Capture of Psychotherapy

NotHavingIt · 2023-05-17T06:57:05+00:00

A scray, and deeply concerning, piece by James Esses in which he recounts his attendance at a recent conference on Existential psychotherapy. [[https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesesses/p/the-ideological-capture-of-psychotherapy?r=clsg2 https://open.substack.com/pub/jamesesses/p/the-ideological-capture-of-psychotherapy?r=clsg2&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email]]

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 10:04

BonfireLady · 17/05/2023 09:43

It seems that rather than being counselled to become emotionally whole and resilient: to take responsibility for resolving one's issues internally, instead people are being encouraged to practice denial and evasion, and then to seek outward political or societal change instead.

This can only increase divisions in society and increase relationship break-ups and break-downs. If the source of all your suffering lies in other people, or in an uncaring, dangerous world then you have to try to avoid it, or shield yourself from it. Your world then becomes smaller and more isolated - as you seek to surround yourself only with that which re-affirms you; and the chasm between yourself and others seems unbridgeable

Absolutely. I see this in the autism world with my daughter too. At home and via her EHCP (school support plan) reasonable adjustments are made to accommodate her differences so that she can partake on an equal footing with others as much as possible. However, it's very easy for "reasonable" to creep further and further in to such a special accommodation that it is now unfair on others. We watch out for this constantly but that can only be achieved by helping our daughter to build resilience to the twists, turns and general unfairness at times of life. However, in the autism parent support groups that I'm in, "resilience" is becoming a dirty word. I'm told that my daughter shouldn't need to build her resilience at all, it's the world that needs to change and be more understanding. I'm all for a world where autism is better understood but equally, it's my role as a parent to equip her for the reality of the world. Something seems to have gone very wrong on this point in general and we're creating permanent victims.

When you encourage someone to identify themselves as a victim of an oppressive system (or person) of any kind - you embed fragility and vulnerability, and this makes emotional resillience almost impossible to achieve.

It is not you who has an issue - it is the uncaring world that has the issue - and so you are encouraged to surround yourself with only allies and supporters.You are encouraged to believe you are unique or special and that the purpose of therapy is to be able to express your best or most true self. You embed yourself further into the community that embraces you for who you are and they become your family.

This, on the contrary, can make for a very lonely and isolated place - and it also increases the risk of suicide ideation: as you cannot effectively shield yourself from the world, from your family, friends or from any challenge at all. Feelings of powerlessness and inability to cope only grow.

To my mind, any organisation or group which engenders the above is a cult - or it certainly operates as a cult.

OP posts:

BonfireLady · 17/05/2023 09:50

No therapists would use the word 'ideology' in the course of a therapeutic relationship - even though they would likely be seeking to explore or test out the psychic structure of the client - to see where the conflicts and dissonances that might be caiusing distress, are located.

Understood. I'm just offering a counter argument that a therapist that uses this word in general (not in the sessions) will need to keep their own gender identity belief bias in check.

Any total world view which has articles of faith which must not be questioned is an ideology.

Agreed. But it's all or nothing. If people are happy talking to a Muslim using the phrase "Islamic ideology" in the conversation, or "Christian ideology" to a Christian etc, fair enough. "Gender ideology" it is. I personally wouldn't use any of these terms as I think it sounds disrespectful. I don't hold any of those beliefs myself, including a belief in gender identity, but I would still want to show that I respected their belief.

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 09:49

My son has has also been seing a Christian counsellor ( as everyone knows the waiting list for NHS mental health services is very long and so people are taking what is available) - and I had assumed that would be better than the other organisation he has been receiveing counselling from - which I assume is politicised and social justice based; because from my own experience with Christianity there would be a focus on inner resolution and letting go, which to my mind is far healthier than clinging on to a unhealthy pattern of thought or response, and then separating oneself from all challenge to it.

OP posts:

BonfireLady · 17/05/2023 09:43

It seems that rather than being counselled to become emotionally whole and resilient: to take responsibility for resolving one's issues internally, instead people are being encouraged to practice denial and evasion, and then to seek outward political or societal change instead.

This can only increase divisions in society and increase relationship break-ups and break-downs. If the source of all your suffering lies in other people, or in an uncaring, dangerous world then you have to try to avoid it, or shield yourself from it. Your world then becomes smaller and more isolated - as you seek to surround yourself only with that which re-affirms you; and the chasm between yourself and others seems unbridgeable

Absolutely. I see this in the autism world with my daughter too. At home and via her EHCP (school support plan) reasonable adjustments are made to accommodate her differences so that she can partake on an equal footing with others as much as possible. However, it's very easy for "reasonable" to creep further and further in to such a special accommodation that it is now unfair on others. We watch out for this constantly but that can only be achieved by helping our daughter to build resilience to the twists, turns and general unfairness at times of life. However, in the autism parent support groups that I'm in, "resilience" is becoming a dirty word. I'm told that my daughter shouldn't need to build her resilience at all, it's the world that needs to change and be more understanding. I'm all for a world where autism is better understood but equally, it's my role as a parent to equip her for the reality of the world. Something seems to have gone very wrong on this point in general and we're creating permanent victims.

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 09:36

BonfireLady · 17/05/2023 09:27

😔😔😔

Very pertinent words from the woman who invited him to speak:
“Who are we as therapists if we cannot tolerate and be open to divergent points of view? How can we truly attend to the Other in the therapy room if we need them to agree with us to feel ‘safe’? What does it mean to offer a therapeutic space where our clients can express their deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings if ‘words are literal violence’?

One thing for me (I accept that there are many who disagree with me) is that I won't use the word "ideology" to describe a belief in gender identity. In exactly the same way I wouldn't describe a belief in God as Christian ideology. It inherently has a negative and othering connotation IMO. So if I had a gender identity belief, and was experiencing gender dysphoria, I wouldn't want my therapist to have any implicit bias within their explorations with me. If a therapist calls it an ideology, this might be a red flag. It would be unethical for a therapist to bring any atheist bias in to their work with a Christian client (e.g. unpicking and challenging their beliefs), so the same would be true of a gender identity belief.

However, facts are facts. There are two sexes. Some people have a gender identity belief, some people don't. For those that do have a belief in gender identity, some will experience gender incongruence or the even more distressing end of gender dysphoria.

The fact that the author can't advocate for the delivery of therapy that assumes a neutral position on this belief is abhorrent. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness - regardless of belief, the idea that the physical body needs to be changed to match a belief must surely be a mental illness. In the most extreme of cases, after all therapy to accept the reality of the physical body is exhausted, medical transition may be the right answer. Anyone for whom this is the case deserves access to care and compassion without judgement throughout their mental health support. However, this will be the right outcome for an incredibly small number of people, from what would be an already incredibly small number of people.

Because gender identity is baked in to the psychotherapy world as fact, this important nuance is lost and patients will inevitably get poor, but well-meaning, care. If the profession was delivering therapy through a Christian belief lens I'm sure there would be uproar - imagine a therapist discussing a pregnant rape victim's trauma with them through a Christian affirmation lens that will "help" her see why it's so important that she allows the child a right to life, no matter how she herself feels about that. That would be considered coercion, surely. I can't see how this is any different.

All therapists are working from a basic conception of what therapy is there to do.

No therapists would use the word 'ideology' in the course of a therapeutic relationship - even though they would likely be seeking to explore or test out the psychic structure of the client - to see where the conflicts and dissonances that might be caiusing distress, are located.

It seems as if there is no agreement on the basic premises of psychotherapy then it just becomesa marketplace of competing ideologies, and the client just chooses the one that is least likley to challenge the existing structure.

OP posts:

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 09:31

Any total world view which has articles of faith which must not be questioned is an ideology.

OP posts:

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 09:30

I find it deeply concerning how mental and emotional fragility is being nurtured in people to the extent they have to be protected from any contradiction or challenge. It seems that rather than being counselled to become emotionally whole and resilient: to take responsibility for resolving one's issues internally, instead people are being encouraged to practice denial and evasion, and then to seek outward political or societal change instead.

This can only increase divisions in society and increase relationship break-ups and break-downs. If the source of all your suffering lies in other people, or in an uncaring, dangerous world then you have to try to avoid it, or shield yourself from it. Your world then becomes smaller and more isolated - as you seek to surround yourself only with that which re-affirms you; and the chasm between yourself and others seems unbridgeable - indeed your psychic structure and emotional well being now depends totally on distancing and separation from that/those which confronts or challenges you.

I've been witnessing this at first hand with my youngest son ( now almost 30). His mental health suffered during the lock-down ( I've long suspected he has Asperger's too) to the extent that he became paranoid and reclusive. Recently he's been seeing a variety of 'talk' therapists - but instead of helping him, he seems instead to have become even more entrenched and angry. And I feel, also far more vulnerable.

I gained a counselling qualification myself, many years ago ( psycho-dynamic - even though I suspect I may have been more suited to humanistic). I understand that social justice activism has been infiltrating counselling and psychtoherapy services - with counsellors viewing themselves as activists.

I was watching a programme about Recep Tayyip Erdogan the other day ( ahead of the Turkish election) and what struck me was the way that you ensure your ideology succeeds is for young people to be trained and educated in its precepts and to then enter into occupations in every avenue of civil society in order to shape and influence them. You then ban or imprison your opponents ( including academics, journalists, politicians). Autocracy and totalitarianism is then achieved - with no effective challenge permitted.

OP posts:

BonfireLady · 17/05/2023 09:27

😔😔😔

Very pertinent words from the woman who invited him to speak:
“Who are we as therapists if we cannot tolerate and be open to divergent points of view? How can we truly attend to the Other in the therapy room if we need them to agree with us to feel ‘safe’? What does it mean to offer a therapeutic space where our clients can express their deepest, darkest thoughts and feelings if ‘words are literal violence’?

One thing for me (I accept that there are many who disagree with me) is that I won't use the word "ideology" to describe a belief in gender identity. In exactly the same way I wouldn't describe a belief in God as Christian ideology. It inherently has a negative and othering connotation IMO. So if I had a gender identity belief, and was experiencing gender dysphoria, I wouldn't want my therapist to have any implicit bias within their explorations with me. If a therapist calls it an ideology, this might be a red flag. It would be unethical for a therapist to bring any atheist bias in to their work with a Christian client (e.g. unpicking and challenging their beliefs), so the same would be true of a gender identity belief.

However, facts are facts. There are two sexes. Some people have a gender identity belief, some people don't. For those that do have a belief in gender identity, some will experience gender incongruence or the even more distressing end of gender dysphoria.

The fact that the author can't advocate for the delivery of therapy that assumes a neutral position on this belief is abhorrent. Gender dysphoria is a mental illness - regardless of belief, the idea that the physical body needs to be changed to match a belief must surely be a mental illness. In the most extreme of cases, after all therapy to accept the reality of the physical body is exhausted, medical transition may be the right answer. Anyone for whom this is the case deserves access to care and compassion without judgement throughout their mental health support. However, this will be the right outcome for an incredibly small number of people, from what would be an already incredibly small number of people.

Because gender identity is baked in to the psychotherapy world as fact, this important nuance is lost and patients will inevitably get poor, but well-meaning, care. If the profession was delivering therapy through a Christian belief lens I'm sure there would be uproar - imagine a therapist discussing a pregnant rape victim's trauma with them through a Christian affirmation lens that will "help" her see why it's so important that she allows the child a right to life, no matter how she herself feels about that. That would be considered coercion, surely. I can't see how this is any different.

Original poster

NotHavingIt · 17/05/2023 09:00

“........painfully othering”, “heteronormative essentialism predicated on gender binary essentialism”. “Menopause affects all bodies, including trans and non-binary bodies”.

Given that on Stella Duffy's practice website she states that she is interested "in embodied approaches to therapeutic work" the above statement surely contradicts that?

OP posts:

ArabeIIaScott · 17/05/2023 08:34

“The world of trans activism has become one filled with threats, silencing, homophobia, misogyny, coerced language and belief policing.”

Sunnava · 17/05/2023 08:18

Those comments from Stella Duffy are crazy. I know she’s full gender woo, but she has always presented herself as savvy and a woman who is a feminist. She’s very “Labour TRA feminist” in vibe these last few years as she’s been marketing herself a queer therapist. She obviously can only make sense of her own cognitive dissonance regarding her work around menopause by the “trans and nonbinary” caveat. I had thought better of her; she’s a smart and brave woman.