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A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

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Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#11

Post by phkahler »

raverbashing wrote: post #2

> is associated with significant and long-lasting changes in clients’ personalities, especially reductions in the trait of Neuroticism and increases in Extraversion. Yes. That's how it should be.

Well since a common thing therapists do is (covert) social skills training, increased extroversion makes perfect sense. The was recently another one linked here that said long term therapy can increase neuroticism.

My biggest complaint is that most of their studies suffer from survivor bias. They ignore people who drop out or have negative outcomes (there is overlap there).

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#12

Post by calewis »

lkadr wrote: post #10

After years of depression, I'm sure my personality is one of the cause of me still being depressed. And if I went to therapy, I'd expect and want it to change. But change is scary, and I suppose that's why some depressed persons don't want to seek help. There's sometimes comfort in suffering. Another reason is that the not-desesperate me feels shallow and boring. But there's probably a hopeful me that's not. I haven'…

As someone who suffers from depression and has gone to therapy for over 5 years (I am also on medication), please try and force yourself to go.

It will most likely change your life for the better, if not, what have you wasted? A bit of money and a few hours of your time? It could make you better at dealing with your depression and, as a consequence, make you feel happier.

You might need to try a few different therapists until you find one you like, and it's not a quick fix either. Think of it like getting (physically) fit, you need to keep at it - maybe for years. You might not also get better in a linear curve, it's up and down, you just have to stick with it.

Therapy has helped me to know myself better, understand why I do what I do and feel the way I do, and, as cheesy as it sounds; learn to accept my limitations. It's changed my life and the life of many of my friends.

You deserve to be happy, everyone does.

Please try it - if it doesn't I will buy you a beer/coffee.

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#13

Post by charleyramm »

calewis wrote: post #12
lkadr wrote: post #10

After years of depression, I'm sure my personality is one of the cause of me still being depressed. And if I went to therapy, I'd expect and want it to change. But change is scary, and I suppose that's why some depressed persons don't want to seek help. There's sometimes comfort in suffering. Another reason is that the not-desesperate me feels shallow and boring. But there's probably a hopeful me that's not. I haven'…

As someone who suffers from depression and has gone to therapy for over 5 years (I am also on medication), please try and force yourself to go. It will most likely change your life for the better, if not, what have you wasted? A bit of money and a few hours of your time? It could make you better at dealing with your depression and, as a consequence, make you feel happier. You might need to try a few different therapi…

Do you think it was necessary to go through this process with a therapist, or could a less expensive alternative have had the same effect?

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#14

Post by ianai »

charleyramm wrote: post #13
calewis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who suffers from depression and has gone to therapy for over 5 years (I am also on medication), please try and force yourself to go. It will most likely change your life for the better, if not, what have you wasted? A bit of money and a few hours of your time? It could make you better at dealing with your depression and, as a consequence, make you feel happier. You might need to try a few different therapi…

Do you think it was necessary to go through this process with a therapist, or could a less expensive alternative have had the same effect?

I’ve heard plenty of writers describe their writing as therapy. “Free-writes” where I write exactly what I’m thinking with no filter have helped me. At some point I just get tired of retelling whatever story is affecting me and move on. Work outs have helped before (mostly cardio), etc.

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#15

Post by megous »

29athrowaway wrote: post #6

Psychology is not falsifiable and therefore not a science.

Yes, it's a helping profession. The goal is to form models of mind to be used to help people feel/live better. Not to understand the brain.

That's why you can have multitudes of wildly conflicting theories and schools of psychotherapy, where most of them work to achieve the goal of wellbeing, but none of which achieve understanding of how human brain works. (of course, some pretend they do, and try to portray this to the patients - as if the ideology the school of therpay holds is the truth about the human brain)

There's nice discussion of this in the book "Health & Suffering in America by R. T. Fancher"

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#16

Post by ntoll »

megous wrote: post #15
29athrowaway wrote: post #6

Psychology is not falsifiable and therefore not a science.

Yes, it's a helping profession. The goal is to form models of mind to be used to help people feel/live better. Not to understand the brain. That's why you can have multitudes of wildly conflicting theories and schools of psychotherapy, where most of them work to achieve the goal of wellbeing, but none of which achieve understanding of how human brain works. (of course, some pretend they do, and try to portray this to…

Beautifully put. Thank you.

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#17

Post by __s »

charleyramm wrote: post #13
calewis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone who suffers from depression and has gone to therapy for over 5 years (I am also on medication), please try and force yourself to go. It will most likely change your life for the better, if not, what have you wasted? A bit of money and a few hours of your time? It could make you better at dealing with your depression and, as a consequence, make you feel happier. You might need to try a few different therapi…

Do you think it was necessary to go through this process with a therapist, or could a less expensive alternative have had the same effect?

As with many things, a therapist offers one to exchange money for time spent figuring out things on your own

I've found success without therapy through minimal exercise over no exercise & framing things as neutral

Framing things as neutral: I'm Canadian, so during Winter I've made a point to perceive the statement "I'm cold" as a neutral statement. A sensory experience as opposed to an affliction of pain. Also focussed on relaxing my muscles in the cold, which made it less uncomfortable. Shivering & clenching up are unnecessary until the temperature has dropped to a point that you really are in pain & should either get inside or get better atire

Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)

#20

Post by gnode »

yomly wrote: post #4

What even is "personality" - leaving aside technical and dictionary definitions, if you --the person-- are the sum of your life experiences, can you ever truly not be you? I pose this because I encounter resistance from people to the notion that they can change themselves, lest they lose some notion of their "self", and personality is often equated with "self" from my experience.

> can you ever truly not be you?

You can stop being the you that you were, and people often do so.

Personality can change slowly over time as we develop through experience and reflection, or it can change rapidly due to post-traumatic stress, drugs, electroconvulsive therapy, or traumatic brain injuries.

I think the conceptualization of self as immutable is tautological, as we tend to thus discount aspects of personality which we find to be mutable from being considered part of the self.

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