Dose therapy work?
My Mum was worried about our "Family Dynamics"(Read, I don't listen), so off to therapy we went. After three months we all were walking on eggshells, and we had stopped laughing with each other. The therapist told my mum I was afraid of men, and I would never have a good relationship with my dad, but up until the "therapy" my dad and I would go to the farm every weekend! And about my "fear" of men, I'd go to darts(two women in the entire league at that time) with my granddad every Monday. Both of this activity would stop at a mere word form my lips.
Now some therapy does work, I've seen it, but that's because the therapist isn't a fool, and the patient wants to fix the problem.

Okay I said this wrong: I'm not looking for an answer, this is a debate thread, tell me I'm wrong, and I don't know my head from a hole in the ground! I started by giving both sides, I want your opinion on therapy in general, not just on my personnel experience.

What do you think?

Well, I think that depends on the person and the situation. Obviously, your therapist either doesn't understand your situation and is misreading you, or is indeed a fool. Either way, it's difficult to tell if therapy works except if it's on a case-by-case basis. Essentially, it works for some people and doesn't work for others. I wish you all the best.

oh sorry this was when I was 10. But thank you for the post.

Well, then can I assume you got your life together since?

Define together? No I'm normal, what ever that means, the issue was I had ADD(not ADHD), and that was found out at the end of 5th grade by a real Dr.!

Therapists rarely have the authority or credentials to diagnose or treat any conditions.

So, you ask if therapy is worth it, then answer your own question:

Now some therapy does work, I've seen it, but that's because the therapist isn't a fool, and the patient wants to fix the problem.

So, um, yes? And as Key said, a therapist is not a doctor (not a medical doctor, at least). You can't expect her to diagnose a condition like ADD. Also, you cannot assume that you understand every facet of yourself better than anyone else, even though that's a saying we seem to repeat a lot (of course, we also say it about friends, family, and lovers, so even we apparently put much faith in it). If everyone did, there would be no market for therapists or psychologists or psychiatrists. In fact, the occupations wouldn't even exist.

Uhh, yeah, I think you basically answered your own question right thar. And yeah, therapists aren't doctors. To my understanding, they're just people who are there for you to talk to about your problems and give you impartial, hopefully good advice. (Which actually, you could get for free from any number of friends or kin.)

As for "does therapy work..." well, I'm not sure. I've never been. All I've heard, too, is people who spend their whole lives going to therapy and yet never properly sort through or fix any of their problems. My ex went to a psychiatrist for a while, but it never did him any good, either. So I don't know.

I've also heard of psychiatric practises such as memory implantation, which can happen as part of regression techniques. Due to suggestion from the psychiatrist, phoney memories of events such as childhood abuse which they claim the patient has "suppressed" are created. It sounds screwy, but the creation of fake memories is prolific in childhood, when a person's perception of reality isn't solid.

So yeah. I wouldn't go, personally. :vicky:

well it hink that therapy does work. because if you ever watched an episode of fraiser, then youll know that people are happy with the outcome. haha. but really, it doesnt help because they are professionals, and are trained to help you. the best shot is just going for it.

I'm in therapy right now. No, scratch that. I'm actually in "counseling". It's been nice for me since being in it because it's just nice to have a third-party to talk to, one who must abide by confidentiality laws, but I'm not so sure it's done that much for me. Hopefully my insurance will be changed soon and I can go to real, actual therapy with a psychologist (combined with a psychiatrist for medications).

I think for therapy to "work", one has to make the effort. You're not going to get better JUST by going to therapy. If you have issues, you need to learn skills to improve yourself and then you need to actually make the effort to improve. I think you only get out of it what you put into it, at least if you have a decent therapist. I think a lot of people have the misconception that just going to talk to someone is good enough, and in some milder cases it may be, but if you're going for a reason, you should strive to address that reason in your life, not just during a therapy session.

I'm curious if you DO have a fear of men? I mean, was your therapist right? You don't have to answer of course. Just wondering.

In regards to what happened with the men in your life, well why did it happen? What made that happen? Your therapist can't physically force you to not go out and do stuff, so why did that end up happening?

@cherry cocaine
My therapist gave us "No-no Topics" and said if we were "experiencing a negative feeling" we should leave the room and talking about why we left was a "No-no"(even in family therapy!:shock:). I don't have a fear of men, I had and still have a lot of guy friends(and some boyfriends[at different times]). We stopped because A) when I was 13(I looked 18), so the bars changed the rules to no one under 21 aloud, B) my granddad died:cry:, and C) I work on the weekends :(. So to sum it up, life(and death) got in the way, that and I was a teenager whos only goal was to hang(read: shop!) in the mall with my friends!;) Actually that still is my goal! I hope that stuff works out for you.

Umm, therapists aren't supposed to tell you what psychological problems you have, that's what a psychiatrist is for.
Therapists are just supposed to let you ramble on and on about all the messed up things going on in your life, at least that's what all my therapists told me they were for.
I've even tried bringing up my psychotic grandmother and I asked them if they knew if I had her illnesses and she said that she didn't know.
I do know that if I'm afraid to tell something to my dad, like hypothetically, if I became a Satanist, my therapist wouldn't be stupid enough to generalize it to all men.

Originally Posted by Lizabeth Storm

Well, I think that depends on the person and the situation. Obviously, your therapist either doesn't understand your situation and is misreading you, or is indeed a fool. Either way, it's difficult to tell if therapy works except if it's on a case-by-case basis. Essentially, it works for some people and doesn't work for others. I wish you all the best.

I agree. Therapy worked wonders for me growing up (I saw a therapist from the time I was around...5 or so up until I was in high school), but I know that therapy doesn't work for everyone...and a lot of that is if the therapist and the patient are a good match, or if the patient is really wanting to fix the problem (or there's also when the therapist isn't really wanting to help their patient(s) with their problems). As was said, you have to look at therapy at a case-by-case basis if you want to see if therapy works or not.

Most of the time in personal situations, therapy is what really helps, not medication. So from that standpoint, therapy does work.

I've never attended therapy in a family setting. I can't see how it would be particularly effective if each member of the family didn't get personal time.

A therapist isn't a magician. They can only facilitate communication and give suggestions. The rest has to be figured out by the family. Take time to sit and talk with them outside of the therapist's office, and things might improve.