What are your thoughts on psychiatrists/therapists?

this is definitely false 😭

Low IQ take. “Caring” is not their job. That’s your grandma’s job. Their job is to be an intelligent listener, provide feedback and ask tough questions, and provide perspective.

Similarly, I don’t think my masseuse loves me. I don’t think my cleaning lady loves me. I don’t think my dentist loves me. They are all doing a job that I find useful to pay for.

Been to therapy, they just gave me different ways to describe what’s wrong with me with no real actionable steps. Spent a lot of money with no forward progress with life.

Maybe this is the difference between men and women but a lot of my male friends that went always said that they mainly don’t help with ACTUALLY improving your life. Just trauma dumping to a rando. I have friends that let me do that.

Definitely false. Sapphire would never do that to me

Anyone who actually thinks this fundamentally does not understand therapy or psychology

They are trained to not get emotionally attached.

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My therapist is great I was struggling a lot more before

Ya’ll need therapy geez

Not quite. I can’t imagine someone going through all the trouble to become a therapist or psychologist without liking to analyze and help people through their mental issues. How many strippers can say they got into the business because they like stripping for men and their mental health issues? Money is always a major factor to anyone doing a job so it’s moot to bring it up as a comparison point.

Roman Empire is my Roman Empire

You should be going into therapy with like an actual objective not just spinning the wheels

Also know where something comes from, or why you do certain things is not accountability it’s the first step

A lot of people do this thing where they acknowledge why do you certain things, or certain traumas which is beautiful

But then instead of holding themselves accountable or at least trying they use it as a crutch for shittt behavior allowing for the cycle to continue

I’ve read an AMA of a stripper who seemed to genuinely care for some regulars (not love/lust but a fondness)

I think most jobs where you interact with people, you can end up caring about them. Like when I worked at a grocery store there were regulars that you just end up friendly acquaintances over time.

So, it’s not a far stretch where a therapist will actually care, or even a stripper will care, if there’s just consistent human interaction.

I don’t think people fully understand what a good therapist is meant to do. Their role is to support your mental health and guide you toward the best ways to support yourself.

So far, I’ve had two long-term therapists (both psychologists, not psychiatrists). Before committing, each of them had an initial conversation with me to ensure we were a good fit. We discussed their methods, my goals, and what “healing” would look like for me. They asked me how I would ideally respond to trauma, grief, or crises by the time our work together was done. An end to our work was always in the plan from the beginning and they made that clear. No leeching.

When my first therapist decided to take a break from practice, she told me she felt I was in a strong enough place to handle the transition. We had done good work and made good progress together and I definitely was in a much better place emotionally, mentally, and physically. She helped me prepare by coaching me on finding a new therapist and setting future goals, as my needs had evolved over time. I applied that knowledge when starting with my second therapist, who has a completely different approach and structure to our sessions. Despite their differences, both were as invested in my progress as I reasonably expected.

They assisted me with university accommodations, provided letters excusing absences when necessary, helped me create plans for myself, and connected me with resources, including diagnostic evaluations and welfare support if needed. However, they weren’t going to show up and yell at my family for causing so much childhood trauma or offer me a place to stay. I know very little about their personal lives, and they don’t ask irrelevant questions that don’t pertain to our sessions—that’s a normal therapist-client relationship. They don’t /need/ to think about you at all after the session. And honestly the fact that they get paid to listen to you rant and rave was actually solace to me as I could let go of feeling like a burden for pushing my issues on someone. I don’t have to feel bad about complaining.

Through therapy, I’ve learned how to manage stress, cope with trauma and grief, and communicate in a healthy way. I’m in a much better place than I was before I started. I feel more capable, more confident, but I’m still learning and shaking off old bad habits and their support is very helpful in learning how to do so.

If you’re lying to your therapist, twisting the truth, assuming you know better than them, ignoring their advice, or trying to build an overly personal relationship with them, therapy isn’t going to work for you. Different approaches exist, and traditional talk therapy may not be the right fit for everyone—but there are other options. Just like with any doctor, you need to be willing to shop around to find the therapist that works best for you. You need to be willing to say “I don’t think this is working” if that’s how you feel and finding someone else. I’ve gotten lucky but for others it can be a bit of a process to find a good fit. I think a lot of people brush off therapy as completely useless as a generalization, or because they have had bad therapists in the past, which is valid, however there are some great therapists out there and sometimes it’s not that the therapist is bad, just a bad match for you. Do research, ask questions, be comfortable being uncomfortable. Therapy is meant to challenge your perspective, not coddle you. Several times my therapists have had to stop me and say “that’s not the question I asked” because without even realizing I avoided answering something uncomfortable. I have had to admit to some absolutely embarrassing or inappropriate/shameful things that made me want to curl up and die but it was necessary that they knew so they could help me. They have had to call me out on bad behavior, when I both knew I was in the wrong or when I was completely unaware I was the problem. If you aren’t ready to do that, and you’re not willing to eventually open up, it’s not going to work. I think a lot of people could benefit from therapy, but bias, anxiety, horror stories, etc. get in the way of people really embracing the process. And it truly is a process. Very much a gentle support, but you are eventually gonna get kicked out of the nest and be on your own. You learn what you can while you’re with them in hopes to be able to stand strong on your own, falter less, when their work is done.

I think therapists are a bit more likely to care but there is likely a degree of truth to this.

They just haven’t found the right therapist, if the therapist is a bad therapist