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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   35427 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of October 3, 2022

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Just out of curiosity, how does this even come up with your psychiatrist?

Sometimes when I'm researching random shit I'll tell him about it.

He can be a useful sounding board. Basically an NYT liberal, but heterodox enough to be able to have certain conversations. It helps ground me.

Huh. I thought therapists were for talking about why you were sad or whatever. I don’t mean to be rude but this just sounds like a paid friend where you just chat about whatever you like. Would he play xbox with you if you asked? Is there a reason you don’t just talk to a free friend about this instead? Once again, not trying to be rude but I had no idea people used therapists this way and it is very shocking to me

There is an argument I'm using it wrong. Sometimes I talk about myself, but sometimes I'm in something of a holding pattern and talk about nonsense. I like to test halfway formed ideas, and his responses tell me when I'm being crazy and when I've legitimately noticed things that are true. I used to have a lot of guilt and shame about realizations I've had, and when he semi confirms something, it helps to ease that feeling.

I'm entering a new field, and once I've fully acclimated I will probably stop seeing him. But right now, it's comforting

Everything I've read to date has cemented the impression that therapists are, in fact, people you pay to be your friend. There's pretty much zero evidence for any of the theory, and if I recall correctly there was a study where fully-licensed talk-therapists delivered equivalent outcomes to a control group of randos who'd been given a two-hour class on active listening. Psychology since its founding has lacked a paradigm, and knowledge does not meaningfully accrue. On the other hand, talking to a serious, reasonably intelligent person about your problems, having them listen carefully and then offer you well-considered advice is a really, really good way to solve a whole host of mental problems.

On the other hand, talking to a serious, reasonably intelligent person about your problems, having them listen carefully and then offer you well-considered advice is a really, really good way to solve a whole host of mental problems.

This looks a lot like reinventing confession. Or pastoral advice in general. I guess if you find a good idea, steal it?

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