I see there's a therapy discourse going on & as a former practitioner can't resist the urge to say: Therapy is a million different things to different people. Many therapists are bad. My own estimate is that 3/5 therapists are bad, 1/5 is mediocre & 1/5 is good. (1)

It's hard to find good therapists & it's hard to find one that's good for you specifically. Research shows that the most important factor in any psychotherapy, far more important than style or technique, is the quality of relationship between client & therapist (2)

If you're racialized or you're queer or disabled or otherwise marginalized, it's harder to find a therapist who is good for you bc it's the quality of relationship (secure attachment, strong attunement) that makes the difference & most therapists are white, straight, etc (3)

It's also hard to BE a good therapist. Being a good therapist is partly about technique - and technique is NOT taught in many therapy schools - but it's also about knowing how to generate secure attachment relationships. And that's not a thing you can really learn in school (4)

The context of therapy also makes being a good practitioner difficult bc in the colonial context, therapists are links to the broader power structures of whiteness, neoliberalism & police surveillance. It's hard to generate real trust with someone you might need to report (5)

Another aspect of the context of therapy is that especially in earlier times (but also today), therapy is a medium through which the dominant norms of what is normal, acceptable & healthy are spread to marginalized others (the "mentally ill"). This makes it fraught territory (6)

In sum, therapy can be essential to individual healing, but can never replace other essential resources. It's also an extremely politically tense practice that has the power to harm as well as help. Let's not shame people for going to therapists OR for being reluctant (7)

Hmm maybe even one MORE thing is that I've seen many critiques (not just in current Twitter land but in general) that therapy doesn't change abusive people into not abusive people. Well, yeah. It's incredibly hard to shift abusive patterns & the person has to want to. (8)

Therapists can't read your mind. Abusive behavior is perhaps one of the least suited issues for therapy to address, bc people who have harmful patterns are most likely to go to the therapist and not tell the truth - partly bc many don't perceive themselves as abusive (9)