"I think you should see a professional"

I see this advice over and over: I think you should see a professional: meaning, a psychologist and/or psychiatrist.

But let's critically analyse that piece of "advice" for a second.

Psychological therapy is shown to be not all that helpful, by scientific evidence, and psychiatry... well, a number of people are identifying themselves as "survivors of psychiatry", and those are the ones who actually... survived.

So, when you're giving that advice, what you're basically saying is "I don't know how to help you and/or I don't know how to be helpful, so I'm going to repeat some cliche advice because... it's what people tend to say".

But really, all you're doing is giving false hope, and potentially submerging someone into a world which they are going to struggle a LOT to get out of.

So, think twice about that piece of... "advice". Give real advice, or keep your mouth shut.

If you disagree with this - if you think that "professional psychological evaluation" is actually beneficial, then please, provide evidence. SHOW us that it's actually beneficial. Stop propagating this destructive cliche of negligence until you've actually demonstrated that you're in the right.

Thanks,

Infinitude.

Even though I'm not "anti-psychiatry", I get fed up with seeing this advice too, largely because it's very invalidating and dismissive - someone shares a problem they've got, or situation they're in, hoping to connect with a few people who have perhaps been through it too, and all they get is "I think you should see a therapist!" It's a piece of glib, thoughtless advice I really don't need - although I appreciate that the advice is well-meant.

I hope this thread takes off and people rip this phrase to shreds.

Just because a person is mentally ill, doesn't mean that the issues they're having- their inability to work, or get along with people, or not abuse themselves, to not be depressed or anxious or psychotic- are not more directly the cause of something else. The phrase "I think you should see a professional" is this huge THING in our society. Most of the time it serves more the person saying it than the recipient of that advice.

It is so insulting on so many levels. Especially because yes, the practice of psychology and psychiatry are inadequate in most places and there is a lack of other kinds of impartial third parties to help you deal with the stuff that really isn't in the realm of "things you should go cry on your friend's shoulder about." Religious/spiritual leaders used to serve that purpose, for better and for worse. Not feeling validated/having enough emotional sustenance is a non-provable need that our society completely denies. People can see how the prison system often times drives people to crime rather than rehabilitates them. But psychological and psychiatric practice are still given too much credit.

My take on it is it's like you telling a friend you want to lose weight and gosh you're tired of having poor sleep and being fat and sweaty and not feeling good in your body. And your friend is like whoa there. I think you should see a professional. This is a talk you should be having with a doctor. I mean, I wouldn't want to give you bad advice, I wouldn't know if you had some condition that might make you keel over and die if you attempt a new form of exercise or change whatever you're feeding yourself. You really need to be supervised. Talking about it isn't going to change it is it? But don't do anything yet...make an appointment. Pay someone $80. Fill out a bunch of forms. Wait a few days/weeks/months. Go to the office. Have them tell you "Did you know you are overweight? And that counting calories and doing more exercise will benefit you? Good for you for being health-conscious. If you want you can get Alli over the counter now, and you can $#%^ out 25% of your fat calories (and fat soluble vitamins) if that will make it easier to obtain a caloric deficit. Come back for a checkup in 6 weeks. Now please leave my office you've been in here for 5 minutes and I work in a profession that has artificial scarcity due to unnecessary barriers to entry and I have so much work to do that I really need the next half hour to paperwork and then take on another client." If you do that, you'll be a good patient. So you should go do that. I think you should see a professional. You've really put me in an awkward situation and made me feel uncomfortable and burdened by you, and I have graciously taken the high road and given you advice.

Yes- well said- invalidating and dismissive. And if you ask me insulting to those who are struggling with mental health challenges.

People buy the lies of so called professionals. But at the same time I think it shows just how much of a tool psychiatry really is and how much it has mis-lead the public. Anything thats odd, different, or not in your own world belief allows that other person to be labelled, institutionalized or medicated. All of which are meant to do nothing more then oust a person from society be it through terminology or crippling treatment. Psychiatry is nothing more than organized bullying.

nothingscathartic wrote:I hope this thread takes off and people rip this phrase to shreds.

Thank you!

I wrote the OP when I was rather drunk so I felt I may have done injustice to what I wanted to say, but reading over it it seems quite solid and it's great that I'm getting positive reactions.

I just want to give an overview of some of my thoughts on all of this based on personal experience, as well as what some well known figures have said.

Regarding well known figures: Terrence Mckenna, whose view of psychiatry seems to be pessimistic overall, has stated that there is at least one psychiatric drug which can be used for beneficial effect. I can't remember which drug he was talking about, so hopefully someone will be able to clarify this. There was an argument alongside it that for the people who think that recreational drugs can be beneficial (I believe there is a growing body of evidence for the potentially beneficial effects of psychedelics and marijuana), that it should be also accepted that a psychiatric drug can be potentially beneficial. So it's not that the very concept of using drugs to treat psychological conditions is wrong, it's that the efficacy is so often overstated and that it is so often harmful.

The other well known figure is Jordan Peterson, who has stated that in the case of people who have depression which isn't obviously linked to "visible" factors of their life, anti-depressants can be beneficial.

The psychiatric drug class which I tend to focus on with all of this is anti-psychotics. I have seen study after study that has shown that these drugs are harmful, although there is supposedly also studies that show them to be beneficial. However, in the studies which show them to be beneficial, there tends to be an assumption that psychosis is a necessarily negative thing: see "Spiritual emergency" (Stanislav Grof) for a perspective which states that this is not the case.

My own experience with anti-psychotics is that at a high dose they are both highly distressing on a subjective level, and cause functional impairment, but at a low dose the side effects are tolerable and I cannot seem to make a case that they cause impairment, thus I am open to the view that they are at least somewhat beneficial in small doses, but certainly harmful as the dose exceeds a certain level.

I personally feel trapped by the psychiatric system. I have just today been told that an application for a community treatment order has been made for me. I recently got let off of a community treatment order, but because I refuse to take the medication in tablet form (I was choosing to take it, but decided that there was no real reason to take it (except for the fact that it increased the likelihood of a community treatment order application) so I stopped) they are applying for another one. They are claiming that my mental health is deteriorating, and that I am simply unable to see that it is, so that my claim that actually my mental health is quite stable is irrelevant. Hmm...

Regarding psychologists: I have received some benefit from psychologists. Learning CBT principles helped me to help other people, so even if I think it is quite basic there is at least some benefit. Also it helped me in making a decision to meditate regularly. Overall, the benefit was quite modest. Based on my own experiences, I cannot say that counselling is "bad", only that is somewhat of a letdown, and I have received help that is at least as beneficial when I have spoken to friends about what I am going through. For those without any support in their personal lives, the benefit of counselling may be significant. However, as I have said, the effects are quite moderate, and I have seen at least one article that states that the benefits of therapy are not statistically significant at all.

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So, yes, I really hope this issue is addressed more frequently and that the mental health system is held to much higher standards than what it currently is. When I was going through tough times, people gave me this advice (see a professional) and I thought they were going to help me sort out what I was going through, but that never really happened. There is a good chance that seeking help made me considerably worse overall, however I don't want to make any claim to certainly over that because I am still trying to understand what changes have occurred to me over the past few years.