Quote:
Originally Posted by puzzle_bug1987
I do think a LOT of people would be far better off getting involved in community and perhaps going to support groups, taking the focus off oneself so much. I think self help books have been good for me and internet forums and just getting involved in life itself. It is sad that people have to pay sometimes to get support and guidance. Really really sad. Something is really wrong in our world.
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Absolutely. Building supportive communities is one of the solutions I advocated for a long time. Expressing compassion and support is not and should not be a professional skill. It's a human "skill". I think professional help should be 1) scientifically based 2) more narrow with specific goals where the procedures can be controlled and outcome can be predictable like in neurofeedback
I also think it's ok to give people guidance and it's ok to call it counseling. But that should have nothing to do with any medical practice whatsoever.
Anything beyond that is the task to be resolved by a larger society. We have a huge deficit of compassion and basic humanity in our culture and this is something that can't be resolved in therapy. A collective problem of the society can't be resolved for each individual separately through the mental health system. Collective problems should have collective solutions. Let's form compassionate humane communities and we will have less need for professional mental health services.