About three years ago, I considered becoming a therapist. I'm an ENFP who is "good with people," generating enthusiasm, and especially good at soothing ruffled feathers.
But the more I researched the career switch, I more I became turned off for the same reasons you outline here, but especially the ones described at the beginning of your article. I'm saddened that people are abandoning the self-discovery, search for insight, and dreamwork models in favor of pharmaceuticals (which in the end, enrich the companies and the psychiatrists more than the patients.)
And sad to say, I find myself forming a negative judgment that people are becoming too shallow to do the necessary hard work that self-reflection entails or to understand that sometimes you cannot force conclusion to a problem but must grow through it. Nor do many understand anymore that the psychological journey itself is the reward, and not just the "cure." Allowing or even encouraging people to forego critical thinking and to follow marketing directives and snazzy packaging doesn't bode well for our society.
If I feel the desire to do counseling work again, I'd probably go into the ministry. Because in the case of spirituality, self-reflection and a willingness to grow through problems is a part of a relationship with the Divine.
It can be very discouraging. I sometimes fell like I imagine buggy whip makers felt when cars became dominant over horses.
Maybe it's the area of the country I live in (N. CA), but I don't see people giving up on the search for insight in favor of a chemical fix. What I see are 5 full pages of therapists of every level in the phone book...the business listing and not the yellow pages so I am talking name after name after name. I see people calling therapists looking for an initial appointment and coming away from the call with a list of names to try because everyone they have called has a full client load. I see my college drop in clinic having a 3 hour wait time. In my area, the person who has not yet been in therapy is seen as odd. I also have several people I talk to online in other parts of the country and a few in other parts of the world...they all see therapy as a valuable tool.
I have been seeing a lot of black and white thinking on a subject that really is full of gray areas. It is true that there are many people that are on meds that don't need to be. It is also true that there are many people NOT on meds who should be. There are many people on meds and not in therapy who would benefit from therapy and there are people who are suffering in silence and doing neither therapy or meds. Why does it have to be either or? Isn't there some room for the idea that BOTH meds AND therapy, concurrently, could be a very good solution for many people?
I have been in the field for 35 years now and I believe I have a pretty good handle on the state of things in it. The current paradigm in favor is for meds + brief therapy or no therapy at all. Cognitive behavioral therapy is the method of choice among the therapies -- it is hard to find graduate programs teaching students other methods. There are more people on SSRIs prescribed by family physicians and other primary care physicians than by psychiatrists -- these patients are not evaluated by a mental health professional.
I have never suggested that no one needs psychotropic meds -- only that they are way over-prescribed. tidy after study has shown therapy and meds to be equally effective treating mild to moderate depression. Exercise is more effective with mild to moderate depression than meds are. Studies also show that the combination of meds + therapy is more effect9ive than meds alone for people who are moderately to severely depressed.
Mine is not the only voice expressing these ideas and I am not basing my thoughts only on personal experience.
Fallen Angels, I hear what you're saying, but Northern California is a special, unique region and the culture there doesn't match up with the rest of the U.S. Having lived in four different states (including California) I know the differences and the cultural gaps that exist here.
NoCal is the homebase for the theoretical and cutting edge methodologies like spiritual emergency, the Grofs and holotropic breathwork, the Esalen Institute, etc., practices and ideas which would be looked on with suspicion or at least with puzzlement by the rest of the country.
I can imagine many pages in the phone book listing therapists because that's California. Try living in a town in the rural midwest or south where not going into therapy is the norm and people who do seek help are considered odd. Assigning medications and brief sessions cognitive therapy with the idea that the client should be "normal" again is easier and cheaper and fits in with the managed health care system and the current social norm that we have to solve our problems ASAP.
Ah yes, there it is...I don't have 35 years of experience in the field so my thoughts and views are of no importance. Condescension and a dismissive tone; silly me for expecting an actual discussion. What was I thinking?
I will, however, point out that I did not state that I was seeing black and white thinking only here.
For anonymoose...I have lived in Iowa and Nebraska, but it was a long time ago and I was in jumior high and high school respectively so I don't have any experience to form an opinion with. I do know that in my small(tiny) town in Neb, there were no therapists and when my high school intervened and mandated that I be in therapy, a psychologist traveled 2 hours one way to see me and whatever other clients she had in town, one day a week. I'll also add that it was of no help...not because therapy is bad or anything of that nature, but because I was 15 and still living in the situation that was causing the problem. I refused to speak...therapy can not happen that way!
I'm not sure that the quick fix attitude is entirely due to the current social norm, it is partly, but not entirely. When people are in pain, they want the pain to end. Often times the pain gets worse while in therapy, before it gets better. I think a lot of people don't want to deal with that, or give up when they get to that point.
Thanks for explaining more about your background and experience, Fallen Angel. I didn't mean to be rude, I just go on and on sometimes.
I see your point about people in pain wanting to end it quick--we sense pain isn't right and wish to expel it, that's probably a natural, evolutionary response. I still have the feeling though, that our business and social culture's speed has increased to the point where it makes us feel like we have to speed along in our personal lives as well.
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