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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)

#81

Post by mwfunk »

__s wrote: post #17
charleyramm wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 focuss…

No, a (good) therapist helps you find things that would be difficult or impossible to find on your own, it's literally an outside perspective. If what you did works for you, you either didn't have any serious mental health issues to begin with, or you figured out a hack to avoid thinking about the things which trouble you, which isn't much different from people avoiding problems by losing themselves in work, alcohol, religion, whatever. It's essential to have techniques to help yourself stay on an even keel, but it's damaging to other people who actually have problems to encourage them to dismiss their problems as insufficient detachment.

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

#82

Post by Broken_Hippo »

yboris wrote: post #38
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…

Thank you for sharing. Sincerely curious what you mean by "A bit of money". I'm lucky that I didn't have to have therapy. My guess is unless your insurance/job covers mental health, it's at least $50/hour (closer to $100 or $150 if in a major city). Surely not much for the possible benefits (and on a developer salary), but I'm wondering how expensive such services are.

IIRC, part of the health care reforms in the states requires them to cover mental health much like physical health, doesn't it?

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

#83

Post by conanite »

frosted-flakes wrote: post #62
borkt wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

AFOAF went through a tough time basically between the end of high school and a year out of college. Family stuff that was so hard to emotionally grasp and make sense of it absolutely paralyzed her. She went through many different forms of therapy; from affordable counselors, to a professor at her college (don't try that, they usually just want you to pay to be in a study), to a relatively average psychologist (~150/h…

AFOAF = A friend of a friend? That's a rather obscure acronym.

"FOAF" is well-known, http://www.foaf-project.org/

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

#85

Post by ineedasername »

Isn't this the expected result? Some aspect of your behavior or thought process (key components of your personality) are in some way running counter to your happiness and/or ability to function in some way. When therapy is effective, that is a de facto change to personality.

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

#86

Post by __s »

mwfunk wrote: post #81
__s wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 focuss…

No, a (good) therapist helps you find things that would be difficult or impossible to find on your own, it's literally an outside perspective. If what you did works for you, you either didn't have any serious mental health issues to begin with, or you figured out a hack to avoid thinking about the things which trouble you, which isn't much different from people avoiding problems by losing themselves in work, alcohol,…

I think you've misunderstood me; I'm not suggesting people avoid therapists. I agree with what you're saying

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

#87

Post by Kenji »

Nav_Panel wrote: post #74

The idea of therapy and its effects on personality is actually something discussed in psychoanalytic literature (noting that psychoanalysis !== "therapy" in most cases), often framed as an ethical question, "when is it permissible to perform psychoanalysis?" Some quotes from a book on Lacan: > what exactly does ‘curing’ mean? Is it simply the disappearance of a symptom, or does one aim to change the underlying person…

Well, I think it is safe to say that anorexia is the worst way to deal with menstrual bleeding.

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

#89

Post by wsy »

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?

Part of many personal issues is that you "cheat yourself", or simply avoid tough topics (psychoanalysts call that resistance). A good therapist uncovers these topics, helps you to face them, and supports you in finding ways to deal with them. It is hard for me to imagine how one could do that without a human counterpart.
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