My contribution on the therapy discourse is to stop acting like "therapy" is just one thing and you can just go to any random therapist of any practice or discipline and they'll just fix you and it won't require any work of your own

I hear so many nightmare stories about vague abstract "therapy" and I'm like OK but what kind of therapy was it. Was it CBT? DBT? Psychoanalysis? CRT? EMDR? ABC? Motivational Counseling? Talk Therapy? There's so so so many kinds of therapy and they're all wildly different

If you have C-PTSD or a Personality Disorder or constant parasuicidal behavior, you really should go to Dialectical Behavior Therapy

Not talk therapy, not motivational counseling, not CBT even

Dialectical Behavior Therapy is the appropriate treatment for those conditions

CBT is better for like, getting over a specific phobia of singular traumatic event. It's not really meant for someone who every single day has to cope with extreme emotions and mood swings and entirely justified anxiety from numerous traumas including ongoing trauma.

If it's just called "counseling" or "talk therapy" that shit is for neurotypical people dealing with a specific recent stressful event, like losing a loved one or struggling with work/life balance. It's not for chronic anxiety and depression it's for like, getting dumped

Therapy just means you're seeing someone. Nothing about talking to a therapist is inherently treatment it's about your specific methods. DBT usually involves taking a class to learn coping skills. It's a completely different beast from psychoanalysis.

If someone told you that you needed physical therapy for nerve damage to your shoulder and you went to pelvic floor therapy, yeah! That's not going to work!!! That's not the same thing!!

Stop going on on directories & just calling the first therapist that takes your insurance & has openings, even if they checked off the "LGBT Friendly" box. You're taking a total shot in the dark. Look up the types of therapy they say they practice and research if it's appropriate

Especially like, anyone on the autism spectrum looking for therapy to deal with complex trauma or anxiety

Look up if you think those therapy methods are gonna jive with how your brain works. DBT works for me because it's a specific toolbox of skills and not just Processing

"Processing" isn't useful for everyone. If I go to counseling to just "process" I'll just infodump about my life the entire time without taking a breath and the therapist won't say more than two words. And then I feel worse at the end. It's not the right kind of therapy for me

There's a very common therapy methodology called "absolute positive regard" and it's the idea that just having someone to talk to who will never judge you harshly and always validates you is like, inherently helpful

Outright harmful for people with personality disorders

Some people need therapists who validate them. Some people need therapists who reality check them and hold them accountable. It's about what your specific problem is and what's actually helpful for that specific problem. Therapy is an umbrella term and imho it's not helpful

The "bad therapists" from that thread are probably really good therapists for middle aged house wives who need support through a divorce

Hi please do not DM me telling me about your traumas and mental health issues and asking which therapy is right for you my degree is in library science I've just been IN a lot of therapy I am not a triage nurse. I cannot help you past saying DBT is what worked best for me

There definitely are bad therapists not saying everyone is good at their job obviously people can be bad at their jobs too that can be a thing. But sometimes it's not a personal failing but just not having the right training or approach.

Also I do see a lot of people with common mood disorders like Mixed Anxiety-Depression dominating the conversation with their takes about how "therapy is the wrong approach" and like

please understand 1. you mean CBT 2. Some of us have mental illnesses other than MAD

the source of anxiety and depression for a lot of people is just Capitalist Alienation, true, a lot of CBT ppl don't acknowledge that and think you should just logic yourself into being happy. But that's not the approach DBT takes or CRT or ACT.

and it's not everyone's issue

Capitalism is not responsible for my manic episodes, nor my hallucinations, nor my delusions, nor my struggles with adapting to the outside world after being raised in a cult.

Your take about Not Medicalizing Emotions or whatever doesn't apply here, some of us need Treatment

DBT gives me a toolbox of coping skills I can use to adapt to the legitimately difficult situations in my life. It helps me slow down and reduce the harm of mania. My meds stabilize me. Don't project your individual shit onto everyone else as all having the same problems

Sorry that's just like a huge pet peeve of mine. It's true that our society approaches stuff like psychosis in ways that are very "how do you make you into a productive worker we can tolerate" over "how can we help you be happy" but that doesn't mean Therapy Is Wrong fuck off

friend of mine correctly pointed out to me on locked that I'm being unfair to people who are jaded with Therapy because their experience of what Therapy meant was forced hospitalization and ABA; which in my head aren't even Therapy that's just systemic abuse of neurodivergant ppl

i think the point i'm trying to make in the thread is i want people to stop thinking of Therapy as An institution, but rather as a category many different institutions fall under and are approaching from many different approaches. There ARE horrible abusive institutions.

I'm muting this thread cuz y'all can't handle nuance or language that doesn't include every single caveat and hedge within the same sentence every time

Here read this thread for additional explanation and nuance https://twitter.com/LpsdSolipsist/status/1338364707258986498?s=19