Therapy reparenting (Scott Peck)

Not sure how you got that from what i wrote. I was describing how i frame my own issues, and then reiterating what SD said and what I said previously about therapy not being treatment, which is in my opinion a critical semantic distinction. Is it the balm for one's wounds thing that is the issue?

I agree that hopelessness, anger, anxiety are not mental illnesses, nor is situational depression. I am not sure what I think about long term depression. I guess on that I would say that what the person suffering from the depression says is the best (maybe only important) indicator.

I do not think that personality disorders can be "treated" with talk therapy.

On the other hand, I am pretty skeptical about psychotropic meds, their utility, the benefits of long term pharmacology, the addictiveness. But they didn't work for me and that definitely colors my opinions.

But what about things like schizophrenia, DID, PTSD? What does the person who suffers from those things do? There are mixed results with talk therapy, meds, exposure. I haven't seen good research on any of these conditions. Although ketamine seems to be actually getting good results.

Try different things I guess. EMDR, biofeedback, support groups?

But also i think everyone in the modern world needs to have their gut health and nutritional status evaluated. The below book discusses an emerging area of investigation related to mental disturbances--the role that microbes/bacteria play in our mental health, and in our overall health. Our internal ecosystems are getting destroyed. The "brain in the belly" is sick.

https://www.amazon.com/Infectious-Ma...ctious+madness

I totally agree with this. In fact my breakdown came after I had Malaria which damaged my digestive system quite a lot. It took years to recover physically and my pdoc still thinks that I would have continued to be high functioning and would have continued to meet my standards for success. Not that my standards of success were anything like most people, but I don't think that is pathological. I think the rest of the world is nuts in that area.

That's certainly possible, but the same as for medications. There's no single treatment that is beneficial for everyone.

That was my point.
I think psych meds are even less uniform - from my working with clients who are often forced to take them despite the hideous side effects and low effectiveness.
I personally don't take drugs from mds of any sort except in very rare sitations where antibiotics are needed.

When my physical health began to deteriorate, problems with depression and anxiety and mood soon followed. I was later diagnosed with lyme disease. One of the co-infections that often travels with Lyme is Babesia, which is a Malaria-like organism. In chronic form these infections cause systemic inflammation that can affect the brain, and the resulting neurotoxins also poison the brain.

Several months of antibiotics (big mistake) likely wiped out gut flora and damaged my gut lining. Mental health got worse still.

Environmental mold, heavy metals like mercury, and severe deficiencies in critical nutrients (omega3 fats, B vitamins, etc.) are likewise implicated in "mental illness".

The MH system, far as I can tell, knows little or nothing of these or of many other bodily conditions that can cause mental difficulties. Getting to the bottom of any complex health problem means employing differential diagnosis. Psychiatrists with their magic pills and therapists with their talk are not in a position to do this, and possibly do a monstrous disservice by herding people onto these narrow paths where little or nothing is resolved and the patient becomes a customer for life.

I think it's a terrible injustice when your clients have been medicated against their will. That said....many practitioners DON'T commit that atrocity. A patient comes in to see me with severe anxiety and a medical evaluation has ruled out physical causes. I'm not going to just say "tough luck, deal with it buddy" if they are asking me for treatment. Bud said there was no evidence for effectiveness of therapy. I gave evidence to the contrary.

Just another circular debate on Psych Central...

[QUOTE=AncientMelody;5361964

Just another circular debate on Psych Central...[/QUOTE]

As people keep participating- there would seem to be pleasure and benefit derived from it.

I didn't see any evidence. I dont believe therapy outcome stats. There are so many problems with trying to quantify this and the biz seems to have such an aversion to reality. Cant take this seriously. I think the best way to understand how therapy affects people is to look deeply at its foundations and beliefs.

Btw, i agree about the terrible injustice, but i think it is only a somewhat lesser injustice that society in general (including children) is cajoled into downing all these brain altering drugs with implicit messages about no other options (except therapy of course).

No other options? I've not seen suggestion that there are "no other options"