This is a chicken and egg thought (plus a giggle about my worlds colliding) – would love your thoughts. (Please press the play arrow and wait for a bit (maybe 15 seconds) while the video queues up – you will see a blank screen until it queues.)
Question: Does therapy respond to the needs of social isolation or are we socially isolated because we go to therapists rather than out families and villages when we are stressed?
{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
People go to therapists because it is a safe place to vent and to learn more about their personal growth and development in a neutral setting. People may feel that their friends or families may not be understanding of their issuues.
Therapy is not designed to cause people to be socially isolated. We provide the tools for individud.als to figure out what they want in life to feel less isolated.
Robbin Miller, LMHC
Beautifully Said Robbin. Thanks for your post. Happy Holidays!
I personally don’t think that there is a cause-effect relationship between therapy and social isolation one way or the other. People go to therapy for different reasons: some may not feel isolated but ‘ve realized that family and friends, while they may be well-intentioned in trying to listen and dispense advise, can’t be objective enough, such as in the case of marital conflict. And besides, what if the client’s problem revolves around disappointment and conflict with these same family members and friends who are part of the client’s social circle?
On the other hand, therapy is neither supposed to cause social isolation: on the contrary, it’s geared to assist clients in acquiring the necessary tools to discover themselves and in that process to become more meaningfully connected to others. In this context, the therapist is supposed to help by using her or his own self, being attuned to the client’s needs, and providing emotional containment.
thank you Graciela. I couldn’t agree with you more.
I haven’t seen either research or writings on people getting worse for decades. What I can vaguely remember is work done 40-50 yrs ago. My guess is that that was more in psychodynamically oriented therapy. In general, I doubt that many get worse.
I DO remember the 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 applying to schizophrenics. A longitudinal study in Vermont or New Hampshire, where they were able to follow-up on many folks supported these numbers.
Mike
http://drmikemiller.com
I love the concept that therapy is more about connection than technique!
Thanks for the update Casey
John
http://www.wilsoncounselling.co.uk
http://www.onlinevents.co.uk
Thank you for your comment John. It’s wonderful to get feedback. Have a fantastic Holiday Season!