3 ms·

"These results are, well, depressing. Therapy is supposed to relieve depression, not exacerbate it." Why? Let's say that a person is currently being tortured,

"These results are, well, depressing. Therapy is supposed to relieve depression, not exacerbate it." Why? Let's say that a person is currently being tortured, and is trying to fly off to a happy place, where there are different kinds of monsters. A therapist, next to the torturer and completely independent of them, is guiding the person back to reality, and making the person face reality as it is, trying to give them the strength necessary to do so. Inadvertently(?), the therapist is just making the person face the reality of torture again, rather than imagined demons. What is the right course of action then, for a therapist, if a patient of theirs is being tortured? This thought experiment should definitely be considered by practicing therapists when dealing with depressive phenomena in patients. (disclosure: I am depressive, on heavy medication combined with therapy; my psychiatrist is facing the issues above head on, and neither of us are under any illusion as to how difficult things are.)

I_Am_Nous 3y ago
Fellow depressive here. Therapy doesn't make the bills go away (and in fact makes a NEW bill in many cases) so for a lot of Americans that's the major depressing factor. However, much of my depressive time is spent just surviving through the day. I don't think of the past or future, just the now. And since the now is out of my hands, why care about how it makes me feel? The chores still need done, I gotta go to work, and how I feel changes none of those facts. I can be miserable and just numbly accept whatever is happening until I go to sleep and do it again. Therapy which teaches a person with panic disorder ways to ground themselves with reality so they don't loop internally are helpful. Therapy for a depressive is like someone dangling a soda on a rope down the abyss I am desperately clinging to the side of and asking "wanna drink?"
- theGnuMe 3y ago
  You need to meditate. That is the path back to the here and now. You gotta do the work. Also find a better therapist. Depressive is not an identity, it is an old school label. You can do it.
  - I_Am_Nous 3y ago
    I'm doing a lot better these days on Zoloft, and have been working through a lot of things with my wife, coaching each other through things. My previous mode was to stuff everything down and ignore it, and I actively try to keep tabs on how I'm feeling to combat it. Most of these are waves caused by childhood events out of my control, and I was taken to therapy off and on throughout my childhood and teens. I got nothing from therapy each time because of that mindset in which I believed therapy wouldn't make my life different and until I can make my life different, there's no sense in processing my emotions or talking about how something makes me feel. I have also gained a strong Catholic faith through it all, which has been very good for my mental health. I only labeled myself a depressive because historically that's who I have been since about age 8. It has affected my positivity and made me complain a lot (a habit I have worked hard to kick), attracted me to cynical dark humor, and warped my sense of self a lot. I'm not opposed to therapy because I'm in a stable place in life and ready to do the work, but I have come a long way with my wife alone.
bitwize 3y ago
This sounds a bit like the plot to the hokey Zach Snyder egopiece Sucker Punch (2011), in which the main girl finds the resolve she needs to carry on in the real world, inside the fantasy world she inhabits where she and her friends are badasses in sexy clothing. I always got the feeling that movie was teasing something interesting to say, but fumbling the ball in the delivery of the message.
ChainOfFools 3y ago
The type of therapy you're talking about is based in Gestalt principles, and when done effectively has a certain aggressive and confrontational aspect to the sessions that some find difficult to return to. especially when the market for therapist-shoppers is full of soft touch, utterly ineffective rent-a-friend techniques which merely create an ongoing regular income stream for the practitioner, while doing very little to help the patient out of the condition they are in.

I_Am_Nous 3y ago

Fellow depressive here. Therapy doesn't make the bills go away (and in fact makes a NEW bill in many cases) so for a lot of Americans that's the major depressing factor. However, much of my depressive time is spent just surviving through the day. I don't think of the past or future, just the now. And since the now is out of my hands, why care about how it makes me feel? The chores still need done, I gotta go to work, and how I feel changes none of those facts. I can be miserable and just numbly accept whatever is happening until I go to sleep and do it again. Therapy which teaches a person with panic disorder ways to ground themselves with reality so they don't loop internally are helpful. Therapy for a depressive is like someone dangling a soda on a rope down the abyss I am desperately clinging to the side of and asking "wanna drink?"

theGnuMe 3y ago
You need to meditate. That is the path back to the here and now. You gotta do the work. Also find a better therapist. Depressive is not an identity, it is an old school label. You can do it.
- I_Am_Nous 3y ago
  I'm doing a lot better these days on Zoloft, and have been working through a lot of things with my wife, coaching each other through things. My previous mode was to stuff everything down and ignore it, and I actively try to keep tabs on how I'm feeling to combat it. Most of these are waves caused by childhood events out of my control, and I was taken to therapy off and on throughout my childhood and teens. I got nothing from therapy each time because of that mindset in which I believed therapy wouldn't make my life different and until I can make my life different, there's no sense in processing my emotions or talking about how something makes me feel. I have also gained a strong Catholic faith through it all, which has been very good for my mental health. I only labeled myself a depressive because historically that's who I have been since about age 8. It has affected my positivity and made me complain a lot (a habit I have worked hard to kick), attracted me to cynical dark humor, and warped my sense of self a lot. I'm not opposed to therapy because I'm in a stable place in life and ready to do the work, but I have come a long way with my wife alone.

bitwize 3y ago

This sounds a bit like the plot to the hokey Zach Snyder egopiece Sucker Punch (2011), in which the main girl finds the resolve she needs to carry on in the real world, inside the fantasy world she inhabits where she and her friends are badasses in sexy clothing. I always got the feeling that movie was teasing something interesting to say, but fumbling the ball in the delivery of the message.

ChainOfFools 3y ago

The type of therapy you're talking about is based in Gestalt principles, and when done effectively has a certain aggressive and confrontational aspect to the sessions that some find difficult to return to. especially when the market for therapist-shoppers is full of soft touch, utterly ineffective rent-a-friend techniques which merely create an ongoing regular income stream for the practitioner, while doing very little to help the patient out of the condition they are in.