Recently, a good friend confessed that she was thinking of seeking therapy. I guess it's nothing new out here in LA, especially in this day and age. But considering that I always found her to be one of the most positive, well-adjusted, happy people I knew, I was floored for days. She certainly was at least happier and more well-adjusted than me. And most people I knew.
Though I'm a big advocate of it for many people, especially before seeking medication, it forced me to look inward and question my own innate aversion to it. Maybe it's a cultural thing of not airing your dirty laundry to strangers. Maybe it's not wanting to admit my sadness or problems aloud because then it becomes real. Maybe it's the fear of opening up, being vulnerable, and fearing judgment from someone who should know what normal is. Or God forbid, what if I'm nowhere near normal?
Irrational, yes. But I never claimed to be otherwise.
On the other note, she had a great point. Not necessarily everyone needs therapy. But everyone could certainly use some. Friends are there for you to listen, empathize, rant... perhaps run over someone who hurt you with their car (I have a dear friend who always offers to do this). Unfortunately, they care too much to be impartial and sometimes the problems are too overwhelming and beyond their scope of help.
This will definitely be something I'll continue to ponder.
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2 comments:
I've also got an aversion to therapy, and for many of the same reasons that you listed.
But there's also my feeling that no one else, especially not another flawed human being, can truly provide me with answers to me problems. If anything, they may be able to help guide me to my own answers, but that's something I could probably do on my own. Good books and good friends can also help guide me.
I also have some experience in the field of psychology, having studied it in college and worked with psychiatric patients. Some of those experiences turned me off to the idea as well. On the other hand, I know therapy does benefit many people. It allows them confront issues in ways they might not have been brave enough to or honest enough to do on their own.
By the way, I didn't mean to say that those who seek therapy aren't brave or honest. In fact, admitting that you've got issues and that you think you can't handle them alone takes a certain amount of honesty. Opening up to a complete stranger, in my opinion, takes an enormous amount of courage. Doing something like that and paying for it would be, for me, an excruciating experience.
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