Ruth: Very good questions.....
I'm not aware of much survey data (which I suspect we'd need) to address
the question of how widespread this general belief is. I would certainly
say, however, that it seems to be quite widespread in much of the
"popular psychology" community. Witness, for example, the predictions by
numerous mental health experts following 9/11 of a massive epidemic of
PTSD across the country, which never materialized (the only markedly
increased rate of PTSD following 9/11 occurred in lower Manhattan, and
even then, most individuals didn't experience PTSD). Or witness the
markedly increased popularity of the self-esteem movement in American
schools, which is premised explicitly on the notion that most children
are fragile and vulnerable to ego threats, and therefore need to be
protected against such threats. Or the claims, again extremely popular
in many sectors of the therapeutic community, that individuals who were
abused as children are "scarred for life." Or the large increase in the
frequency of crisis debriefing and similar forms of post-trauma
counseling, including grief counseling, which are premised on the notion
that most individuals who encounter stressful life events will develop
PTSD or depression unless afforded access to early interventions.
I don't doubt that are is still a marked stigma attached to seeking
therapeutic help in certain pockets of the U.S. (especially in certain
cultures), but I think it's clear that this stigma has receded markedly
in recent decades (and I believe there are good survey data to support
this notion, although TIPS members may be more familiar with such data
than I am). Sommers and Satel don't maintain that the attitude of
"therapism" holds everywhere, but they do argue that it is gaining
increasing traction in many domains of American life, especially in the
popular psychology world and in educational practices.
......Scott
FRICKLE, RUTH wrote:
Scott Lilienfeld wrote:
The book is less of a critique about psychotherapy per se (which
Sommer and Satel agree can be helpful in many cases), but what they term
"therapism," viz., the increasingly widespread notion in popular culture
that most people are fragile and vulnerable to breakdown and therefore
require "professional help" whenever distressed.
Are there empirical data that support the existence of this
"increasingly widespread notion" ? If this notion exists and is so
influential, then why does there seem to exist such ongoing resistance
to seeking help (even when it's justified) and negative judgement about
those who seek help (again, even when appropriate)?
Ruth Frickle
Department of Psychology
Highline Community College
Des Moines, WA 98198-9800
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Scott O. Lilienfeld, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Psychology, Room 206
Emory University
532 N. Kilgo Circle
Atlanta, Georgia 30322
(404) 727-1125 (phone)
(404) 727-0372 (FAX)
Home Page: http://www.emory.edu/PSYCH/Faculty/lilienfeld.html
The Scientific Review of Mental Health Practice:
www.srmhp.org
The Master in the Art of Living makes little distinction between his work and his
play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his
recreation, his love and his intellectual passions. He hardly knows which is which.
He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to
decide whether he is working or playing. To him – he is always doing both.
- Zen Buddhist text
(slightly modified)
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