Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site pyuxd.UUCP Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!gamma!pyuxww!pyuxd!rlr From: rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Rich Rosen) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: self-actualization Message-ID: <1545@pyuxd.UUCP> Date: Sun, 18-Aug-85 18:50:40 EDT Article-I.D.: pyuxd.1545 Posted: Sun Aug 18 18:50:40 1985 Date-Received: Fri, 23-Aug-85 07:18:32 EDT References: <1744@reed.UUCP> <621@ttidcc.UUCP> <1680@hao.UUCP> <313@tove.UUCP> <1690@hao.UUCP> <671@ttidcc.UUCP> Organization: Whatever we're calling ourselves this week Lines: 43 >>>>... 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 ... >>>So is therapy. >> That's not what I learned when I was a Psych major in college. Therapy is >>for treating things defined as "disorders" or, in extreme cases, "diseases". > I don't know when or where you were a Psych major, but, as of 5 years ago > at least, this idea was considered old fashioned at best and outright > counter-productive at worst. (5 years ago is when I completed my Master's > in Community/Clinical Psychology at CSU, Northridge). > > "Personal growth" is a very common reason for seeing a therapist. One need > not be suicidally depressed or murderously paranoid to want to explore past > the boundaries of one's everyday thought patterns. Such exploration can't > be done in a room with several hundred other people, though small groups > can be useful. I agree with this, in that many people who see therapists are not suffering from "disorders" or "diseases", but simply "problems". Perhaps this is why Greg chose something like Lifespring to work through whatever problems he had, because he had learned the negative connotation of what therapy meant. (Just a speculation, and not really relevant.) But I wonder if the motivation for the change in focus has anything to do with marketing? I mean, there aren't THAT many true sickos in this world, and most of them (us) are on the net [:-)]. So maybe it was part of a commercial ploy by psych majors and psychology professionals to ensure a market. "Come to therapy, it's OK, normal people do it every day." (There, I've written a jingle! To be followd by an announcer saying "Therapy. It can work for you. This message paid for by the American Psychological Therapists Association (APTA)." :-) Sure, this has made a big difference in people's perceptions of psychology, but still... [Oh, by the way: END SATIRE MODE :-) * .5 ... ] Boy, am I gonna get slaughtered by the psych majors for this one. -- Anything's possible, but only a few things actually happen. Rich Rosen pyuxd!rlr