Sunday, January 25, 2009

Therapy as an "air-tight" system

"Air-tight system" is perhaps an awkward phrase to use here - basically, what I mean is that,

1) There is "no escape" from therapy. For example, if the patient disagrees with the therapist, he is "fighting the therapy". Or if a former patient starts a blog about therapy, she is is "still working through the therapy". In short, everything past, present, and future comes down to the therapy.

2) Therapists pretend that therapy "subsumes" all in life, for example, no matter what other field or topic may be brought up, it somehow falls under the umbrella of therapeutic principles, or at least the principles of psychology. An example of this would be a therapist or psychologist taking a point of view that, say, physics, with its concepts of matter, energy, etc, can be "explained" entirely from a psychological point of view; as if they have no objective or even empirical existence of their own, but instead are totally "constructs of the mind" or some such thing.

This is ironic in light of the fact that one could consider the theory behind psychotherapy to be, to a large degree, a house of cards. And, should this be pointed out to a therapist, he or she either blows the speaker off by saying something like, "oh..you are being too philosophical [or too analytical]"; or the therapist simply changes the subject, redirecting the topic to one of the speaker (patient) herself. Either way the therapist is in this instance showing the attitude of a simpleton who does not recognize the importance or even the validity of any concepts or fields of knowledge existing on their own outside the theories of psychology.

I should mention here that of course, I am not proposing that the therapist spend time in sessions with the patient, engaging in discussions about physics or math or what have you, or that the discussion between patient and therapist should turn into a purely philosophical one. What I am emphasizing here is the nature of the therapist's response to the challenge..it itself tells us something about the therapist and therapy itself.

This is all tied in with therapists' resistance to anything reminiscent of philosophy, a resistance which can be traced all the way back to Sigmund Freud, father of the "talking cure", who himself was "against" philosophy (Freud himself used the term "resistance", but as a reference to his notion that individuals, and society as a whole, have an innate resistance to psychoanalysis).

Further definition of what is meant by therapy being an airtight system will be given in later posts. I shall also later expand on the specific items presented in this post.

Saturday, January 24, 2009


Click here for blog rules

Gaslighting: therapy as an attempt to undermine the patient's sanity


Definition of gaslighting (wikipedia)

More information forthcoming.

Weaknesses inherent in the concept of therapy


It is "self-confirming".

Any effectiveness of psychotherapy is primarily based on suggestion and faith. All "methods" seem to "work" equally well (with the possible exception of cognitive therapy, but even that is based on suggestion and faith).

Details forthcoming.

Examples of unethical behavior by therapists


Making faces at the patient.

Staring at the patient in order to intimidate.

Laughing at the patient.

Details and more examples forthcoming.

The Fundamental Problems of psychotherapy


Freud resisted philosophy.

The "seduction theory".

Therapy as an "air-tight" system.

More details forthcoming.

Examples of suitable topics and comments


See posts subsequent to this one, above.

More information forthcoming.

Blog rules: what the blog is about


This blog is mostly a forum for general observations on the problems of therapy, and for presenting practical, philosophical, and/or scientific arguments against it. See posts above for examples of topics, etc.

This blog is not intended as any type of "recovery" forum as such, and thus will not interest those who want to go into vivid emotional detail about their personal experiences in therapy; nor is it for those seeking some systematic method for undoing the effects of psychotherapy which they may have suffered. No recommendations or advice will be given.

This may not be a good place for persons currently undergoing any form of therapy, as the intention is not to undermine a therapist one is seeing, or to cause damage to the "therapeutic process".

No actual names or other details such as location, etc., of real therapists, practices, doctors' offices, etc. will be allowed here.

Opposing views are allowed, insofar as they address specific topics which have been presented here in the blog posts and comments by myself and others.