PsychoLogical

I tried the earkick and asked it a few questions. The replies were pretty generic and things I have heard or read before. The interaction wasn't very personal. I think using something like that may appeal to and be more beneficial for people who can't afford real life therapists, who have trouble interacting with people in person and/or who need on-the-spot access to it. Although, there are potentially many issues with something like this such as people's private messages and information being leaked or stolen and sold. Also, I'd want to know if there were any studies on using AI and if there could be potential issues in developing a relationship with an AI bot where it could become unhealthy or unhelpful. I'd also want to know who was programming it and what kind of information or techniques were being used. Maybe it would turn out that it had an advantage over actual therapists, or maybe it would be more harmful, or maybe it would be neutral and perform no better or worse.

Exactly, and I think this in itself provides much comfort and possible healing for many of us than any therapist ever did or could.

I agree with what everyone else has said. This forum provides anonymity and privacy (even more so than therapists), so that you can speak about your experiences, thoughts, opinions, grievances, fears, etc. It can be somewhat of a double-edged sword in that you have the privacy, but also lack the in-person connection. Some people prefer one over the other, others don't mind either way. Because of that it may be easier for some to open up and express themselves because they don't have to do it in person with other people and they don't have to worry about people using their identity or information against them or gossiping to others about it. But in this forum most of us share a common connection in that we have had bad or unhelpful experiences with therapists or therapy and so we're able to connect with one another through that. We can offer our support, opinions, and general knowledge that we have to help give suggestions or advice to other members. It's ok to feel uncertain or afraid about opening up. You don't have to share anything you don't want to or feel comfortable doing so. You can also choose not to engage with others and just read other's posts.

Hi, NoTea, welcome! It sounds like you are wondering how helpful this forum or discussion with others who haven't been helped with therapy can be, or if many people have been harmed by therapy then who or what will be able to help someone who is struggling? Is that what you are asking?

And with the sunk cost fallacy, they're more likely after having spent months, years, and thousands of dollars NOT to see where it wasn't helpful or went wrong.

Hello, and welcome (back).

I'll have to see if I can find the reference, but I do recall reading that many times therapists will be under the false impression that their clients are being open and honest with them, and that when they leave or discontinue therapy, it's because they've been healed or have recovered, when in many instances, it's actually that the client didn't want to hurt the therapist's feelings so they went along with whatever they were told to do, and because they didn't want to disappoint them, they wouldn't tell the therapist when things weren't helping or if they felt any other negative or unhelpful thoughts/feelings about the therapy. I know in my experience, that I didn't want to hurt a therapist's feelings, so I wouldn't tell them directly that they weren't helping me, or the methods didn't seem to do much, or that they weren't doing anything or telling me anything I didn't already know or couldn't find in a book or online myself. I would leave therapy feeling it was mostly a waste of time without actually ever explicitly telling the therapist that. While I'd mostly agree that therapists try and project the "Male or female, therapists do not judge you. They want you to feel free to be yourself and say what’s on your mind without mincing words", attitude, there are many factors that would prevent this. In most any relationship, it takes time to build up a rapport and a trust with someone to be comfortable enough to tell them personal problems/thoughts/feelings/struggles. I think most people, especially people who would be in therapy, are probably sensitive and empathetic to others, so they would be unlikely to be direct and assertive with a therapist, letting them know they didn't like them, or weren't being helped, or challenging the therapists claims or behaviors. I'd add too, that there's so much to slog through that most clients wouldn't have the time or knowledge to be able to fact-check every claim. As I also mentioned above, most clients will be in deference to the almighty therapist, because they're the ones with the supposed knowledge, experience, wisdom, insight and training to be able to help you through any and all problems you're facing. Given that clients are coming to therapists for help and relief of mental/emotion anguish, they're probably just wanting to do what they're told as quickly as possible to help ease the struggling and suffering, or at least feel happy to have someone to talk to or unburden themselves with. Apart from all that, I think that, to be frank, it's complete bullshit that therapists "don't judge you". I don't think it's possible to never judge anything. We're constantly assessing, evaluating and judging everything all the time. It's part of how we function as humans. Sure, therapists are probably trained and taught how to project an appearance of "unconditional positive regard" towards their clients, and how to "listen without judgment", but does that mean they never, ever, have any kind of opinion of their clients? Or that they never judge them whatsoever? No way. For as many methods or schools of psychological thought that propound this whole non-judgmental, empathetic, loving, accepting attitude, there are probably a whole host of methods and therapists who believe that it's unnecessary for that, or even detrimental. I know there are some therapies that involve being confrontational and possibly antagonistic toward clients. It seems to me that there are innumerable branches of supposed therapeutic methods and psychological thought, that anyone (and this isn't really an opinion, it's what they've done) can make up a therapy, name it, brand it, trademark it, then start their own institute or school and charge money to be trained in it. What they need to do first and foremost, before allowing anyone to start practicing anything, is to understand mental illnesses, the etiology of them, and how to objectively diagnose them without fuzzy and mostly subjective questionnaires. Instead, we have scores of medications, therapies, beliefs, etc., all claiming to be able to treat these problems, and not really doing a better job than chance, or leaving things alone, or taking up a hobby, or talking to a friend.

And, not very precise or specific. Which lends itself to being open to interpretation, so that any therapist can change it to fit what they want it to, or don't.

This looks interesting. I started reading the beginning. A good part of the technical jargon and therapy lingo is confusing, so I need to look up terms to try and be able to understand what's being talked about.

Welcome. You're definitely in the right place. Feel free to talk about anything you're comfortable sharing.

That's a likely cause. It also raises the point of how exactly therapists are able to make the claims that therapy IS effective enough to be used to treat any patient, especially if it doesn't work for many, or is actively harmful for others.

Precisely. And sadly, vulnerable, suffering people are the ones who are being exploited for their gains. And being on the bottom of these imbalanced, unequal relationships, the victims rarely ever have any kind of recourse to bring them to justice.

Absolutely. It makes me think of the whole corporate culture of "improving productivity", where they send their employees off to psychotherapy seminars or workshops, or pay for individual sessions. Of course, the bigwigs of the corporations or huge companies don't care about their employee's well-being per se, but only insofar as their employees are functioning at the top of their A-game all the time. If by sending them away to get therapy and to learn therapeutic techniques that purportedly help them to "function" more optimally in perpetuity, then they'll foot the bill for that, and require their employees to undergo therapy. It's nothing to do with making sure people are healthy in all areas of life in a generally altruistic sense, it's that they want employees putting out as much energy and effort to further advance the objectives of the corporate tycoons. Same with society. When I read statistics on how many people are afflicted with depression and "the economic cost" of it being in the billions of dollars, and how there's so much "lost productivity" and job-related expenses lost to mental illnesses, it makes sense that they would ship people off to therapists or psychiatrists, oftentimes in conjunction, because both of those fields claim to be able to effectively treat mental afflictions. They want to get people back to work as quickly as possible. Once again, not because they genuinely care about improving people's lives, but because of the profit motive. Problem is, what if part, or even all of the cause of so much mental anguish and suffering is due to our very society itself? Well, since most people in power would rather die than willingly give up their money and their control, they would never want to fix the problems in society. Better to "fix" the millions of people who are depressed because of society's corruption. Of course, it's never a fix, but more like acclimating a slave to his cell and making him comfortable there and teaching him how to accept his lowly conditions and never hope for anything better, so that after a while he will believe that's the best life will ever get, and eventually he'll forget to even imagine breaking free and changing things, so that the masters can leave the cage door open and he will never think of leaving it, or if he does leave it, he'll be too scared to go far, or to run away at all. So what we have are so many suffering individuals, who are rightly hurting, who are not truly being helped by anyone, and the entire system continues chugging along, seemingly improving people's lives, while not transforming anything for the better. Why is it that now more than ever, we have access to a multitude of different therapists, and therapeutic techniques and methods, yet rates of depression and other mental illnesses are skyrocketing, not declining? If all the medications and therapists out there were really helping people as they claim, wouldn't we be seeing rates going down? I'd suppose therapists would advocate for more access to therapy, and for more people to become therapists. But then wouldn't that cut into their business, if they had more people competing in the market for their potential clients? It's like some sort of sick irony, in that therapists are like lions stalking their prey, except instead of seeking to inflict some harm upon them, they're searching for damaged people who have already been harmed, in order to "heal" them.

I stumbled upon a therapist offering their services: "Health Care Provider Debrief: In this thirty minute appointment, first responders, and care providers overwhelmed with COVID-19 can narrate or story tell their problematic, or concerning experience. Through this discussion resources and next steps may be identified, however the primary purpose of this resource is to get concerning experiences, "off your chest", so that you can feel more at ease or 'free' to resume your important work while managing difficult experiences. Thursdays, 9-5, 30 mins, $50.00." It was rather gratifying to see people in the comments saying that it should be less or even for free. This was the therapist's response as to why their services weren't inexpensive or free: "I am earnestly trying to do something to help out. As an independantly owned and operated business, it is difficult to do what you are requesting. Most healthcare professionals have benefits, and the government has asked people to offer and design services to help out." Paying a complete stranger 50$ to discuss your personal experiences seems like a raw deal. But notice how the therapist has framed it as a beneficial service they're offering to people, as if a client is being allowed the privilege to pay them just to talk.

I stumbled upon a therapist offering their services: "Health Care Provider Debrief: In this thirty minute appointment, first responders, and care providers overwhelmed with COVID-19 can narrate or story tell their problematic, or concerning experience. Through this discussion resources and next steps may be identified, however the primary purpose of this resource is to get concerning experiences, "off your chest", so that you can feel more at ease or 'free' to resume your important work while managing difficult experiences. Thursdays, 9-5, 30 mins, $50.00." It was rather gratifying to see people in the comments saying that it should be less or even for free.