A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
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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)
#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.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#3> 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.
Yes, why is the article implying there is something philosophically bad about a changed personality? Ideally, if someone was a serial killer, it would be objectively good to change their personality wouldn't it?
Changing one's personality doesn't take away 'me-ness' anymore than it reveals your ideal self.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#4What 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.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#5What 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"
It's a question of degree. There's a clear line from me yesterday to me today, with a massive amount of similarity. I'm comfortable about my wants and needs and how my life is set up, because the "me"s of the past set things up, and I'm similar enough to them to fit into the niche they worked on.
That personality can change over time - I'm not who I was when I was 20, and I'll be different again when I'm 60. But with a slow set of changes that's easy enough to cope with - and indeed, people generally don't even notice the changes.
But if I woke up tomorrow with a vastly different personality, the change having happened all at once, it would affect all of my relationships, my working situation, my home life, etc. It's wouldn't be a slow transformation from one person to another, it would be the instant death of one personality and their replacement by a different one. And that feels very uncomfortable to people.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#6Psychology is not falsifiable and therefore not a science.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#7Maybe it’s little discussed because that’s the intended effect? A lot of simple things can create positive changes in aspects of your personality, such as meditation, a consistent exercise routine, enough sleep, etc.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#8> 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.
Yes, why is the article implying there is something philosophically bad about a changed personality? Ideally, if someone was a serial killer, it would be objectively good to change their personality wouldn't it? Changing one's personality doesn't take away 'me-ness' anymore than it reveals your ideal self.
Imo no personality is ever wrong, except for when the brain/mind is influenced by a disease. I am not saying that the actions of a serial killer will ever be approved, but the notion that one "type" of personality is more good than any other is strictly cultural.
At the same time, I agree with you that it is not bad to change a personality, if it is the owner of that personality that initiate the change.
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#9I would like to link to a my old post here regarding this very topic (even if the original comment was about something else): https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13498424#13498462
Re: A little discussed effect of therapy: it changes personality (2017)
#10After 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't found it yet, it requires more effort.