Posted by daisym on May 28, 2005, at 19:47:46
In reply to Re: Dear Abby! Warning: A rant. » Daisym, posted by fallsfall on May 28, 2005, at 16:35:49
Dear Abby,
Your advice to "Shaking Son in the Bronx" to change therapists after two years showed a great deal of ignorance about the therapeutic process. Many, many people need this much time and more to establish trust and safety before beginning to work on their core issues. Log on and read any of the internet mental health boards and you will see that the relationship between client and therapist is cited again and again as the most critically important ingredient to a successful therapy.
It is a sad misconception in our society that "good" therapy must offer a quick fix to problems. If it isn't fast, if it can't be measured and replicated, we deem it ineffective or inefficient. We ignore the thousands of individual stories about long-term therapy that was essential to healing deep psychological wounds. In many cases, it was literally a lifesaver. Insurance companies want to ignore these stories too. Don't help them with bad advice, Abby.
Deep therapy is hard enough without criticism from the outside world about how long you are taking. This is NOT a one size fits all endeavor. It takes as long as it takes and with a little luck, you find a therapist who is willing to walk the whole way with you.
Sign me - "No, I'm still not done" in California
poster:daisym
thread:504170
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20050528/msgs/504410.html