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From: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: self-actualization
Message-ID: <655@ttidcc.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 8-Aug-85 16:13:10 EDT
Article-I.D.: ttidcc.655
Posted: Thu Aug  8 16:13:10 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Aug-85 06:14:53 EDT
References: <1744@reed.UUCP> <621@ttidcc.UUCP> <1680@hao.UUCP>
Reply-To: hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath)
Organization: The Cat Factory
Lines: 137
Summary: 

In article <1680@hao.UUCP> woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) writes:
>              ... I agree persons who are not qualified should not be
>giving psychotherapy. But, what you are calling "amateur psychology", by
>which I assume you are referring to things like Lifespring, EST and other
>awareness or personal growth training courses, IS NOT THERAPY NOR IS IT
>INTENDED TO BE OR TO REPLACE THERAPY.

Actually, "amateur psychology" covers a much broader multitude of sins  (in
my   opinion).   It   includes  anyone  doing  counseling  who  is  un-  or
undertrained  and  unsupervised.   That  takes  in  a  lot   of   religious
counselors, Dear Abby, and most marriage counselors among others.

Note:  I'm not attacking any specific program.  There  are  some  that  are
       well  run,  with  qualified  people  in charge, who carefully screen
       their clients and have professional  psychologists  standing  by  to
       help anyone who gets into serious trouble.  My quarrel is with those
       who do none of these things.

As for whether or not something is therapy (regardless of what it claims to
be),  that's  one  of the knottiest and most controversial questions in the
psychological field, both legally and ethically.  I  will  not  attempt  to
rule one way or another on a subject that some of the greatest minds in the
field are still knocking their heads against.

>      In order to do the Lifespring training, you have to sign a statement
>saying that you are aware that the Lifespring course is NOT psychotherapy
>nor is it intended to replace the same.

This is just a legal  cop-out.  It  gets  them  around  licensing  laws  by
letting  them  claim  not  to  be  doing  therapy  and getting the client's
"informed consent" and acknowledgement.  I used to know a therapist who was
licensed  in  California  but  wanted  to  give  seminars and do therapy in
Washington (state).  Because there was no  reciprocity  in  the  respective
licensing  laws  he  had  all  his  Washington  clients  sign  an agreement
acknowledging that he was only a  "facilitator"  and  was  not  a  licensed
therapist.  What  he actually did in Washington didn't differ significantly
from what he did in California  (and  he  charged  the  same  $70/hour  for
"facilitating" as he did for therapy).  _Anyone_, licensed or not, could do
the same.

Again, the reason things like this exist  is  because  there  is  no  legal
definition  of  what  constitutes  therapy  vs.  counseling  vs.  self-help
training, etc.

>                                        In fact, if you are currently in
>or have been in therapy within the last 6 months, you have to have a 
>therapist's signature on the registration form.

Another legal technicality.  This avoids a lot of trouble from  law  suits.
If  you look far enough (usually not very far) you can find someone willing
to sign almost anything.  Many of the self-help programs will be  happy  to
refer you to such.

>                                                The Lifespring course, and
>other awareness training courses, are designed for people whose lives basically
>work, but somehow know they could have it better than they do, *NOT* for people
>whose lives are a total mess that need therapy.

This is a common misconception about who needs therapy.  Plenty of  people,
myself  included,  go to therapists for personal growth.  You don't have to
be suicidal or psychotic or a bag-person to want or need therapy.

Also, many people don't realize their lives are "a total mess"  until  some
amateur  misuses  a technique they've read about to rip their psychological
guts open then leave them bleeding because they don't know  how  to  repair
the damage and don't have any qualified supervision to call on for help.

>  The "wreckage" you speak of is often caused by people who really need therapy
>going into an awareness training course.

True.  It's also caused by people going to unqualified "counselors",  self-
appointed transactional analysts, misc. priests, the occasional incompetent
psychologist (they certainly exist), etc., etc.

In addition to the non-trivial requirements of obtaining a Ph.D.,  licensed
psychologists  spend  thousands  of  hours in supervised internships before
they're allowed to have  patients  of  their  own.  Even  then,  most  have
arrangements   with  fellow  psychologists  for  supervision  and  detached
opinions.  Merely having read _I'm OK, Your OK_, or some  other  equivalent
doesn't  qualify anyone to mess with other peoples' minds.  It's the people
who think it does that I'm set against.

Many (not all)  of  the  awareness/self-help  courses  don't  screen  their
clients  for  anything  other  than  bank-balance.  With  some  others, the
screening is purely a formality or  consists  of  an  MMPI  administerd  by
someone  with  no training in psychometrics or any other qualifications for
interpreting the scores.

When someone who does need therapy gets into  trouble  in  such  a  seminar
(this  could be anything from a minor crying jag to a full psychotic break)
there are usually no qualified personnel  standing  by  to  deal  with  the
situation.

>                                              But you really shouldn't make
>blanket generalizations about "amateur psycholgy". I, and several people I 
>know, have gotten a *great deal* of benefit out of awareness training courses. 
>All *you* are qualified to say is that it isn't therapy (I agree), that those 
>who give those courses are not trained psychologists (they do not claim to be), 
>and that you don't see any value in it for *you* (nothing wrong with that, 
>either).  I am a living counterexample to a blanket condemnation of awareness 
>trainings.

First, I  don't  recall  making  any  blanket  condemnations  of  awareness
training  programs  per se.  I think that was your interpretation.  Second,
I'm _not_ qualified to say that what they do isn't therapy and I'm not sure
anyone is, though they can claim whatever they want.

As for amateur psychology, which I define as un- or under-qualified  people
messing  with  other  peoples'  minds in an unsupervised situation.  I must
continue to condemn that as a dangerous, illegal, and unethical practice on
a par with medical quackery and even harder to prove.

Finally, I agree that some people derive benefits from groups like est  and
Lifespring  (which  I  have  no personal experience of).  I don't intend to
point an accusatory finger at any specific  group  that  I've  no  detailed
information  on  (e.g.:  Lifespring).  Even  qualified, licensed therapists
have both positive and negative results in their practices.  My concern  is
with  the  handling  (and  minimizing)  of  the negative results.  Too many
people  have  come  out  of  bad  therapy/counseling/awareness  experiences
psychologically  devastated  with no ongoing support to help them deal with
their feelings.  Creating a situation where such can happen is a  violation
of the ethics code of almost any helping profession you can name.

Sorry if this has run on a  bit.  I  really  should  put  a  safety  on  my
diatribe button.

On a tangent:  Has  anyone  heard  how  Werner  Ehrhard   is   doing   with
               acknowledging  personal  responsibility  for the tax-evasion
               charges against him? (-:{

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
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