Hey guys, I was wondering: do any of you happen to know if there's such a thing as companies that are specifically designed and created to scam people out of their money with therapy? I mean, is it particularly common?
I know that there's people who will immediately say that all of therapy is one big scam, and that the effectiveness of therapy relies largely on patients' faith that it will work. So therapy can be just as effective as anything else that people have faith on, whether it be: prayer, homeopathy, witchcraft, placebos, meditation, etc.
But are there companies in which the therapists are all fully aware that the "therapy treatment" they offer is complete and utter bullshit?
I ask because I've recently begun what is apparently referred to as "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy" and so far paid $600 for 6 sessions (it was recommended that I go to this so-called "therapy" for a total a six months, so that would be about 24 sessions in total... amounting to about $2,400)... but the whole thing just feels like bullshit to me. And I think that my therapist may also be fully aware that it's all bullshit and that I'm being scammed out of my money real good. Or maybe it's because of compassion fatigue. Maybe they just stopped giving a fuck long ago.
What do you guys think?
Oliver Perry
ever heard of religion?
Benjamin Gomez
CBT is real and 100 dollars a session is a normal rate
Logan Lee
F•P•B•P
The entire psychiatry profession.
>Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
MFW
Henry Lewis
>CBT is real and 100 dollars a session is a normal rate
I am aware that CBT is real as I've heard of it elsewhere before. But I wasn't exactly concerned about whether or not CBT is in itself is a scam. What I was concerned about, however, was that the current CBT treatment that I'm receiving could really be considered "CBT" at all. There's really nothing special to it.
So far it just kind of feels like boring, directionless talk therapy where my therapist spends a lot of the time asking me a lot of random questions, sometimes even repeating questions, and then getting annoyed at me and sighing whenever I point out that she's already asked me a particular question before. It's almost as if she's intentionally creating filler to waste my time and take as much of my money as possible.
And the way that my therapist and her boss (a psychologist who evaluated me for personality disorders last year) behave around me is also very strange. It's like they're just stringing me along until I figure out that it's all bullshit and I decide to bail on them, only to be replaced by another clueless patient.
This CBT is apparently supposed to help me cope with Social Anxiety Disorder, but I just end up feeling awkward, embarrassed, and even uncomfortable most of the time. The whole thing feels so chaotic, so aimless... I'm not exactly sure what I should be expecting here. I feel completely unfamiliar in this territory. I'm not sure how any of this is supposed to be helpful.
Is this what CBT is supposed to be like?
$100 for 50 minutes feels like a bit much, especially considering that my previous therapist charged me $55 for 60 minutes (sometimes even longer). And so far I've met with both of these therapists for 6 sessions each, and yet the one that charged me less offered more helpful advice than my current therapist.
Alexander Cox
>This CBT is apparently supposed to help me cope with Social Anxiety Disorder, but I just end up feeling awkward, embarrassed, and even uncomfortable most of the time I think that's the problem with therapy for social anxiety. I'm in the same position. How is the "talking cure" going to help if I can't talk to begin with?
What's even bigger bullshit is psychiatry. I've seen three psychiatrists in the past 2 years. Each time I see a new doctor, I get diagnosed with different (or subtly different) problems and get put on different medications that don't work. The first doctor wouldn't even diagnose me, and just said "oh, you feel sad? Here's antidepressants. Oh, you feel anxious talking to people? Here's some fucking benzos." He didn't even ask for my family history. The second doctor had me on six medications, including almost 3 times the highest FDA recommended dose of amphetamine even though I showed signs of psychosis; when this elevated my bloodpressure, his solution was to put me on a beta blocker. I'm putting up with it in the hopes that I'll get lucky and be put on a medication that happens to work. Seriously, give me access to all of these drugs and wikipedia pages on mental disorders and I could do this myself for free.
Josiah Smith
No bullshit, try psychadelics.
Ethan Ramirez
>but I just end up feeling awkward, embarrassed, and even uncomfortable most of the time Isn't it expected that if you have some anxiety disorder that you'll feel anxiety when discussing the situations that give you anxiety? IANAP but seems normal to me.
Justin Campbell
First, I would suggest going back to your previous therapist if you had a better opinion of him and he's significantly cheaper. If you can't for whatever reason, ask him to recommend someone.
Now, while it's always possible that your current therapists are just phonies, I will offer an alternate explanation. It's quite common in various forms of therapy to check if your thoughts are consistent or variable, or subtly causing a change (in emotional state, mode of thinking etc) to see how your answers differ now. I can virtually guarantee you that she's asking you the same questions repeatedly because it's required by the therapy manual she's following and getting annoyed because you're fucking up the procedure by resisting. Imagine if you're at clinic telling your nurse "but you already checked my blood pressure today! And do you need to change my IV drips so often? It feels like you're just making up work to take my money..." Then you catch her conspiring with the doctor on how to handle your case...
My suggestion is that you avoid resisting and stressing out over your therapist's competence and intentions for one session and candidly cooperate with her. Hell, you should actually tell her "I realize I was probably making things difficult for you before, but I'll try to work with you now" to clear up any bitterness that may have formed previously. If this still doesn't seem to have some positive result, just switch.
Personally, I stopped going to therapy because I felt it was turning into "guessing what they want to hear." For example my last therapist often made the session last for longer than expected if I wasn't making good progress throughout it, so when I started getting tired and wanted to end it I told her what she needed to hear because I had figured the general pattern of a successful session according to her technique. When you start actively (and successfully) deceiving your therapist there's little reason to keep going.
Jackson Peterson
>How is the "talking cure" going to help if I can't talk to begin with? How is "lifting weights" going to make me stronger if I'm not strong to begin with?