Do you think most psychologists and therapists are batshit crazy?

[NewYearFitQueen]

I know about 4 in real life and trust me, they do not lead lives you would want to lead, plus at least two of the seem batshit crazy themselves

And where would a layperson find the NICE guidelines? Googling it, I think I've found them for anxiety and depression, but they suggest over five different types of therapy, so not really narrowing the field down! Especially as, until a person tries a therapy they can't tell how they'll respond – and even then if they don't respond well, they won't know if it's due to the psychologist being the wrong fit or poor at their job, or themselves.

As for 'having a clear idea of how you measure success', how exactly is one supposed to do that, in the short term? I've read that therapy can make a person feel worse before they feel better, that it can take multiple sessions to show any effect – even that it can take many sessions just to reach the core of an issue, let alone begin to work through it.

It sounds like you're expecting (depressed, anxious, traumatised etc) patients to be as qualified as the average therapist! That's not realistic. I don't have tell my dentist what treatment I need – they can tell me, and the results are immediately measurable. That's the difference. So how much money will one spend before they realise the therapy isn't working, either because of the method, or because the therapist isn't very good?

Even then, it seems like you might be keen to blame that on the individual and their 'personal issues', rather than understanding that all the factors I've mentioned can lead to cynicism with the industry.

A lot of people that come to therapy don’t even have a diagnosable anxiety/mood/personality disorder, they’re just having a tough time for whatever reason - because life is intrinsically tough probably.

Also what is meant by ‘giving advice’ isn’t well defined - for example if I’m working with someone with PTSD and I teach some tools to help manage their flashbacks/nightmares is this not giving them advice in a sense?

or if I’m working with DBT skills to help someone recognise and regulate their emotions is that not advising them?

CBT and DBT are behavioural therapies rather than psychotherapy or counselling though. They’re a completely different type of therapeutic intervention.

Advising someone on techniques that can help them when something is happening that they want to change their reaction to is different from giving life advice such as moving, ending a relationship, etc etc.

CBT and DBT are forms of psychotherapy. They are just based on a different theory of why people may be in distress to some other types of psychotherapy. As for counselling - I have heard many different explanations of how that differs from psychotherapy but find it hard to identify what is supposed to differentiate it.

They are both therapeutic modalities, same as humanistic or anything else. All therapy from person centred to psychodynamic to CBT is based on the same principles anyway eg stuff that happened in the past can impact our understanding of and relationships to self/world/others in the present. They use different terminology etc but they’re not wildly different. That’s why you can integrate different modalities.

Wat?

Is "chasing the dragon" also a euphemism for something else, or was your therapist actually shooting up heroin during your session?

I know a couple of great therapists who I would definitely ask for recommendations if ever I needed MH help. However I also know some therapists who should be nowhere near other people - including one who is a narcissist who I used to work with. She was horrendous at work and was regularly namechecked in exit interviews and was the cause of a few long term stress related sick leaves. She is the only person to ever reduce me to tears in a meeting- and I've been working for nearly 40 years. I cannot imagine her ever being able to help and support anyone.

I also used to know two psychologists - one clinical and one educational - and both are nasty judgemental people, and massive gossips to boot. Wouldn't trust either of them - the educational psychologist one accused me of neglecting my kids as I have "too tidy a house to be parenting properly".

I also used to know a batshit crazy social worker, but that's for another thread.

I only wish it was CoolFineDoneWicked as it gave me a hell of a shock. Ironically he is now in rehab for substance abuse

No, I think they know they can earn a good living. 🙄

Counselling is a flooded profession and in the main, very hard to make money. If I didn't have other ways I'd be on the breadline now.