Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/17/84; site hao.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!seismo!hao!woods From: woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) Newsgroups: net.singles Subject: Re: self-actualization Message-ID: <1690@hao.UUCP> Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 15:48:37 EDT Article-I.D.: hao.1690 Posted: Sun Aug 11 15:48:37 1985 Date-Received: Wed, 14-Aug-85 03:21:44 EDT References: <1744@reed.UUCP> <621@ttidcc.UUCP> <1680@hao.UUCP> <313@tove.UUCP> Organization: High Altitude Obs./NCAR, Boulder CO Lines: 62 > >... 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 know several people who are in therapy for the same reasons you gave for > taking Lifespring. And most of them are quite the opposite of "messed up"! To each their own. If therapy works for them, great. A lot of it, of course, has to do with your expectations. If you expect therapy to work for you, then it probably will, no matter what your "problem" is. > In my opinion, many people go into groups like Lifespring with expectations > of achieving some of the growth that they might achieve in therapy--but with > hopes of avoiding the stigma that some people (apparently including you!) > associate with therapy. Expectations, expectations. Much pain in this world is caused by comparing expectations to reality. It is this comparison that causes the damage, not Lifespring or bad therapists. And I would appreciate it if you would not put thoughts in my head that are not there, especially negative ones. I associate no stigma with therapy. Being sick happens to all of us and is not a "bad" thing, whether physical or psychological in origin. It is a fact of life that illness happens. >I think that the ways these groups are advertised encourage such expectations. I would like to see an example of this. That has not been MY experience. In the case of Lifespring, there is no "advertising" at all, except through word-of-mouth from those who graduated from the course and felt that it was sufficiently valuable for them that they want to encourage those they care about to have that experience too. > Personally, I think seeing a therapist would > work out better in the long run--provided that the therapist is a good one. Given your beliefs, I have no doubt that that is true FOR YOU, should you ever feel such a need. But don't presume to speak for everyone. I have been to therapists before (to treat depression) with limited or no success and lots of time and money wasted. After a 5-day, $400 course (which carries a money back guarantee -- how many therapists do you know who do that?) I was able to see that my depression was caused by comparing reality to the way I "wished" the world was. Dropping the comparison "cured" the depression. No, *I* won't speak for everyone either. I'm sure some people (particularly those who have strong negative beliefs about awareness trainings) would not get much out of a Lifespring-like course. But *I* happen to know lots of people who benefitted more from Lifespring than they did from previous therapy, so it just goes to show that it can go either way depending on the person. --Greg {ucbvax!hplabs | allegra!nbires | decvax!noao | harpo!seismo | ihnp4!noao} !hao!woods CSNET: woods@NCAR ARPA: woods%ncar@CSNET-RELAY "Comes a time, when a blind man takes your hand, says don't you see..."