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From: dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau)
Newsgroups: net.singles
Subject: Re: self-actualization
Message-ID: <313@tove.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 8-Aug-85 00:19:08 EDT
Article-I.D.: tove.313
Posted: Thu Aug  8 00:19:08 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 11-Aug-85 04:18:47 EDT
References: <1744@reed.UUCP> <621@ttidcc.UUCP> <1680@hao.UUCP>
Reply-To: dsn@tove.UUCP (Dana S. Nau)
Organization: U of Maryland, Laboratory for Parallel Computation, C.P., MD
Lines: 29

In article <1680@hao.UUCP> woods@hao.UUCP (Greg Woods) writes:
>... 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.

>... *NOT* for people whose lives are a total mess that need therapy.

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"!

>The "wreckage" you speak of is often caused by people who really need therapy
>going into an awareness training course. I'm not claiming this is true in
>Ann's case, because I don't have all the facts, but it sure sounds like it
>on the surface. People who go into an awareness training or encounter
>weekend expecting therapy are bound to be disappointed or even damaged.

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.  I think that the ways these groups are advertised
encourage such expectations.  Personally, I think seeing a therapist would
work out better in the long run--provided that the therapist is a good one.
-- 

Dana S. Nau,  Computer Science Dept.,  U. of Maryland,  College Park, MD 20742
ARPA:  dsn@maryland				CSNet:  dsn@umcp-cs
UUCP:  {seismo,allegra,brl-bmd}!umcp-cs!dsn	Phone:  (301) 454-7932