T's inclination for pseudoscience - red flag?

atisketatasket · Jul 31, 2017, 12:50 PM

I once had a therapist whose nickname was Woo. Really.

Moment · Jul 31, 2017, 04:02 PM

I understand how you feel. It would give me pause. I see a massage therapist who believes in a lot of pseudoscience. I just ignore the occasionally bizarre things she says because I feel great after seeing her and she gives good massages and I sense she is a good person. It doesn't affect our massage sessions.

People are complicated and not consistent. They can think logically in some areas, and not others. If your therapist has been good for you so far, and has good insights into you and your behaviors, and is empathetic and human and is teaching you new and useful stuff, then who cares about the pseudoscience? I don't see how it affects you, unless she says one day "here, hold this healing crystal pyramid," and you're like, "no thanks, I'm not into that."

I agree that this is an opportunity to practice acceptance. I mean, my therapist is deeply into a hobby that mystifies me. When I first learned of it, I was like, "Seriously, you care about that?" It made me wonder who he really was. But it's not like it affects our therapy or our caring for each other.

BudFox · Jul 31, 2017, 07:07 PM

I've tried about every form of medicine you can imagine.

I've found few things more pseudoscientific than talk therapy.

In the hierarchy of quackery, I'd put conventional MDs, conventional dentists, and therapists at the top. All three fields have done demonstrable harm to my health, and are all filled with lunatics.

Mainstream physicians run a pseudoscientific cult that worships magic pills (that kill a lot of people).

Therapists purport to treat pathology through talking.

Dentists drill out teeth and fill them with poisons.

Compared to this, homeopathy is nothing.

I do get the conundrum of having conflicting views with a therapist.

vishva8kumara · Aug 01, 2017, 12:09 PM

They are also human beings and human beings have personal beliefs. But as long as they do not bring personal beliefs into professional practice, I think it is fine.

Aug 01, 2017, 03:24 PM

There seems to be just as much woo in coventional medicine, but this would freak me out. Claiming a 2 day program will change someone's life forever, seems deceptive and other stuff seems cultish.

It freaks me out when it heads towards reality distortion as that's a PTSD trigger for me. I probably would not stay woth a therapist that wooish.

By the way, I had a great massage therapist, and part of her technique was 'channelling energy' from the ground into my body. What she was actually doing, I realized, was pushing lymph fluid, which can feel somewhat euphoric.

brillskep · Aug 01, 2017, 04:20 PM

I'm more curious as to why or how this impacts on you. I understand the need to be similar to the therapist in your beliefs and values, but beyond that, with time and especially if you look up her personal or other professional pages online, you're bound to find differences. It could be a hobby, it could be something she personally believes in and wants to offer to people who also believe in it. As long as she doesn't try to push it on you (which definitely should not happen), I wonder if maybe this focus on what her views are might say something about personal fears and a need for structure and predictability.

Most importantly, how is your therapy with her going? Do you have a good therapeutic relationship in which you feel you can trust and open up? Do you notice progress? Is her approach with you (not what she may write online) what you need? In the end, I think these are the most important aspects to consider.

In my experience when something like this seems so upsetting or frightening or offensive, it means an important issue or dynamic has been touched. IF she can keep a professional attitude with you, I would suggest trying to work it out and see if something valuable to you can come out of this.

ruh roh · Aug 01, 2017, 04:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TangerineBeam

I've been working with my T for 2 years, and always thought that she's a grounded and very scientific person. I'm not religious or spiritual myself (in fact, I'm openly atheist), I believe in science and scientific approach, and it suited me how we were alike in this matter.

But lately I started noticing things. She mentioned how "world changes on a quantum level and we should adapt" in one of her posts on Facebook. And I know for a fact that she knows nothing about quanum physics or any physics at all. Then she says to me that she believes homeopathy is working. Not for her, but it helped some of the people she knows. And now I see on her professional page that she started working as a counselor for some, let's say, "Human Development Center." Not only that, she finished two of their programs. I visited the webpage of this center and they claim they can help anyone in two sessions. Only two sessions needed so the person can change his or her life. And though they seem to use some valid psychotherapy techniques and say that everyone is different and needs different approach, I also see a lot of pseudoscientific nonsence. Pyramids, "quantum physics," torsion fields, you name it.

Mind you, she never said or used anything like that in our sessions. She never even mentioned it to me, I asked her first. What we do is just a typical therapy process, without any NLP or something like that. I haven't had the chance to speak to her about this yet (and I definitely will), but I don't like this one bit. I'm starting to doubt her critical thinking skills and get paranoid that she will inadvertently use some unconventional approach on me.

What do you think?

For me, this would be just fine. I have more problems with rigid type therapists who can't admit that they just don't know what works, that much of it is trying different things.

Also, it sounds like a lot of this has to do with things you have found out about her and not things she brings into your therapy. If you're otherwise happy, I would just focus on what works for you.

awkwardlyyours · Aug 01, 2017, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TangerineBeam

I've been working with my T for 2 years, and always thought that she's a grounded and very scientific person. I'm not religious or spiritual myself (in fact, I'm openly atheist), I believe in science and scientific approach, and it suited me how we were alike in this matter.

But lately I started noticing things. She mentioned how "world changes on a quantum level and we should adapt" in one of her posts on Facebook. And I know for a fact that she knows nothing about quanum physics or any physics at all. Then she says to me that she believes homeopathy is working. Not for her, but it helped some of the people she knows. And now I see on her professional page that she started working as a counselor for some, let's say, "Human Development Center." Not only that, she finished two of their programs. I visited the webpage of this center and they claim they can help anyone in two sessions. Only two sessions needed so the person can change his or her life. And though they seem to use some valid psychotherapy techniques and say that everyone is different and needs different approach, I also see a lot of pseudoscientific nonsence. Pyramids, "quantum physics," torsion fields, you name it.

Mind you, she never said or used anything like that in our sessions. She never even mentioned it to me, I asked her first. What we do is just a typical therapy process, without any NLP or something like that. I haven't had the chance to speak to her about this yet (and I definitely will), but I don't like this one bit. I'm starting to doubt her critical thinking skills and get paranoid that she will inadvertently use some unconventional approach on me.

What do you think?

This would make me question the T's intelligence big time and unless they were really really really -- like really -- stellar otherwise (which honestly, is a conclusion that I would likely never come to), I wouldn't be able to overlook it.

If they were really stellar otherwise, I'd directly say that I looked them up and that it made me question their intelligence and then see how it goes.

Then again, I've refused to see therapists for far less crap.

TangerineBeam · Aug 09, 2017, 05:05 PM

An update.

I've talked to my T about this. As some of you said and as I've suspected, she's somewhat interested in all that stuff, but mostly because it helps her to approach different clients and because she wants to be more flexible in her work.

Also, I've figured out why this bothered me so much. In my teens I had a spiritual/religious phase which in the end made me feel like **** and heavily contributed to my depression. So now I freak out when people that are close to me and whom I trust so much as mention anything about spirituality or religion. I don't want a repeat of what happened to me then.

I've also looked deeper into that center, and it is really cultish. It's not just coaching, they outright say "You are unhappy, only we have some secret knowledge that can help you. In 2 days. For a large sum of money, of course." I still don't like this and I even wanted to give her some advice about not trusting everything they say, but then I thought to myself that she's not a child, she can handle herself. If she wants to associate with them, it's her choice.

She's been very helpful all this time, very professional, so I think I just need to focus on my therapy, not on her personal beliefs or her other work. Even if she goes fully wooish (which I doubt), I can always find a new therapist.

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T's inclination for pseudoscience - red flag?

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