Do you think being a therapist is a real job?

therapists work with their minds and their emotions, regulating both to evaluate and treat their clients difficulties. There are people that excel in this type of work, people that coast through the day, and people that hate their work and it is obvious.

Therapists are accepting of behaviors that most people would judge, criticize, and even punish. They get into details when most people would run away. And they put their own freedom at risk every time they close the door.

Many therapists have worked in mental hospitals and prisons. They have been verbally abused, inappropriately touched, had bodily fluids thrown at them, been assaulted, hospitalized, and some killed by their clients. They have had clients follow them home and ring their doorbell at 3 am.

And then they are yelled at by their boss/client and are told they can't be trusted because they get paid and are doing it for the money.

I don't know if it's necessarily a job, but I'd say anyone who gets into a field with these sorts of potentials is definitely working.

As a thought experiment, lets assume that its not a job, and therefore there are no more therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. No more at all, as in, they don't exist.

Would there be a noticeable impact in society if therapy, psychological assessment, and psychiatric medications didn't exist?

Would your life be better, the same, or worse without ever having access to these services again?

If so, what would that look like? If not, why not?

I would be dead. Seriously.

As a thought experiment, lets assume that its not a job, and therefore there are no more therapists, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc. No more at all, as in, they don't exist.

Would there be a noticeable impact in society if therapy, psychological assessment, and psychiatric medications didn't exist?

Would your life be better, the same, or worse without ever having access to these services again?

If so, what would that look like? If not, why not?

I find it interesting that on one thread - people are insisting it is the client who "does the work" (whatever the hell that means) and that therapists even say all they do is show up and here we get oh it is so hard to be a therapist - do they really get it both ways?

There are other jobs where clients verbally abuse, physically attack, inappropriately touch, kill, tell horrible details to , etc the practitioner - many types of law have that happen, teachers have it happen etc. It was pretty common when I was a public defender to experience these sorts of things. And the public defenders I know actually did something for their clients.
I think therapists see themselves as working at a job. I don't know that it matters about the money part or not - is something only a job if you get money or do you actually have to do something? If you do something but don't get paid = is it a job? If you don't actually do anything but do get paid - is it a job?

But I think that any paid work is a job. Even people who are just showing up and doing very easy stuff, still have a task to do (showing up and performing some action) and are remunerated for it. If one gets paid without even the slifghtest effort, I think that would be a gift.

Or rent - I consider what I pay them to be high priced rent.

I don't follow this question at all. Just because something is re-classified as not a job, doesn't mean it wouldn't exist.

There are already opinions on this thread that athletes, say, are not practicing a job. Yet athletes exist.

But doesn't that make what your therapists do some kind of job? Your therapist has a place for you to go (office) and a chair (unless you bring your own, which I know you've done) and they sit there and listen. Even if you don't want the first one to speak, she's still there each week. If that set up didn't serve some kind of purpose for you and you simply wanted to pay someone rent, wouldn't you just rent out your own office space, go in, sit down and vent to the wall for 50 minutes? For that matter, you could probably go out to your garage and vent for 50 minutes and not pay any rent! Why pay a middle man/woman who does nothing other than provide space? But then, it's fine if you do because it works for you and you're giving them a job--providing space for you to vent!