When I was going to BYU, my dad sent me to a psychologist. During my visits, this psychologist kept lecturing me on how bad he thought my personality was. He was a creepy man, and very intimidating. He was also a Mormon bishop, and he included religious ideas in his lectures. Several times he said, "are you ready for therapy?" This really confused me, especially since he did not give me a chance to answer the question.

I thought I was already in "therapy". If you visit a psychologist twice a week, I define that as therapy. So what in the world was my psychologist trying to say?

I also had an experience with my sister regarding that word. I tried to get to know her better, tried to share my view on things. She said something like, "therapy helps. It really does." But she did not explain what in the world she meant by that word. It was like she was trying to avoid getting close to me by speaking that word. Really weird.

I have seen several other mental health workers in the past, at the request of my parents, and none of them said anything about "therapy". So it's a big mystery.

I know that Mormons use psychologists as a form of social control. In the MTC I was concerned because I didn't know the Church was true, and they sent me to a psychologist who told me that I would eventually know it was true. Out in the mission field, a psychologist got me to stay on my mission when I wanted to go home.

I would think that whoever is in charge of "therapy" would use it to mold people to conform to a certain way of thinking or behaving. So is "therapy" just conformity to a certain person's understanding of the world?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2014 03:21AM by behindcurtain.

I think that when used properly, the word implies some technique for curing people, or some effort to cure them. Used improperly, for example by the creep at BYU, it implies that any improvement will be shifted far into the future. Until then, the patient or client is totally discredited and must do whatever the "professional" person says, whether or not it has any curative value. After all, you're in such bad shape, how could we even tell if you're cured? That way, the therapist escapes any accountability while enjoying quite a bit of personal power.

He sounds like the typical priesthood @sshole, not a competent therapist. But what he might have meant is whether your attitude was in the right place, whether you were ready to change and do the personal work therapy requires.

Therapists don't fix people. They just probe to find the real problems (rather than the symptoms, like bad behavior or unhappiness) and then help patients fix themselves. In that sense, they're like teachers. Teachers show you the principles, the methods, the guidelines, but you have to do the reading, work the math problems, write the essays yourself.

I'm going to go a little bit further and define therapy as breaking your psyche down into pieces, discarding the unhealthy and pathological parts, and rebuilding them into a stronger, more resilient psyche. A therapist is there to guide you and give you an objective, (hopefully) unbiased POV of the healthy and pathological parts of your psyche.

I have been in therapy multiple times for different reasons. With the exception of the two LDS therapists, it has been immensely beneficial.

If your therapist was asking you if you were ready, he probably meant "Are you ready to do the work to make yourself a more whole and functional person?" Therapy is what you are willing to put into it. I've watched so many people attend therapy sessions then make the same mistakes over and over and wonder why their lives are constantly in the crapper. Ultimately it is up to YOU to change and make yourself a healthier person. That is what so many don't understand about psychology and therapy: It's about deep introspection, dealing with the nastiest parts of yourself, and holding yourself accountable for your choices, not a feel-good session where you're patted on the head and handed a lolly.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/19/2014 10:10AM by Itzpapalotl.

There are two types of therapy for me. Having some wine or having a good Whine. THey both help.

Seriously, therapy for me is when someone skilled can get you to look in your own internal mirror and really get you to look at yourself objectively. They get you to start making decisions based on your deepest truth as they sharpen your perceptions about how your relate to others. This is tough. Definitely too tough for a TBM claiming to be a therapist who has an extended agenda.

Good therapy for me is not trying to get someone to follow someone else's path--such as Mormonism, but helping them find their own path that leads in a positive direction.

That is my completely unprofessional opinion.

Beer.

Party on, mates!

Timothy

Therapist

The rapist

And don't forget Psycho the rapist.

I think he definition of "therapy" in the situations you
described is "you changing to be how I want you to be." Put
that in the place of "therapy" in the statements by the
psychologist/bishop and your sister and see if that isn't really
what they were saying.