Radical politics & therapy

[jake williams]

For various reasons I'm not sure I want to go into, I'm thinking of going to see a shrink again. I got a lot out of it the last time I went a few years ago, but my politics have developed a lot since then. I'm nervous about how much now I'd be willing to share, or what sort of reaction it would get, etc.

I'm wondering if anyone has any experience with this, thought, suggestions, whatever. I'm of limited means to travel or shop around at all.

[¿Que?]

Yeah, that last sentence is the main problem. Chances are your therapist is going to be some liberal douche. If you get unlucky, he'll be conservative, which means they will understand you even less.

On the positive side, the relationship with the therapist has to be one of them helping you come into your own. That means that they really can't/shouldn't challenge your political or religious views. This is unprofessional, in spite of the fact that of the many therapists I've seen in my area, I don't think a single one was not a liberal douche, mostly based on the things they say.

If you identify strongly with your political views, in terms of a personal "who I am" way, you shouldn't hide it, and if the therapist makes changing your political views as a condition for you getting better, then you should report them, and they will have a legal hassle to deal with.

If the therapist thinks your political views are so out there that they need to be changed, then they should, as a professional, refuse to see you. It's a matter of professional ethics.

My opinion, though, is that there should be a radical psychology, much like existential psychoanalysis that I think Sarte or some other existentialists were trying to develop. Something that incorporates personal struggles into the broader context of capitalist exploitation and its ensuing social problems. Looking only at the individual psyche, one really can get nothing out of psychoanalysis in my opinion. Everything occurs in some context, and understanding this context is crucial to learning how not to completely drown in society while at the same time, not taking part in exploitation as much as possible.

[Aurora]

Ive been to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy(it's my understanding this is the most common atm) before and personally i got more out of talking with the therapist than the actual CBT exercises. I was in no state to argue at the time but the whole concept seemed to be backwards. I think a less cause and effect and a more dialectic between behavior-cognition and environment-subject might have been more useful.
If your worried particularly about how your politics might go down im not sure i can be much help i never mentioned to my therapist that i had strong political views really, various topics came up that might have suggested it but even if it had come up, in hindsight, im not sure it would have been a problem. Perhaps it would be more of a problem where you live i mean they are meant to be neutral but some are bound not to be i guess you won't know till you go.

Could you be more specific about what your worried about by any chance?

[Hoipolloi Cassidy]

If you're worried that the shrink won't be able to help you because of a differing political commitment, talk to him/her about it when you first meet, and if he/she's unreceptive or it doesn't feel right, go elsewhere, it's your money. If, for instance, he/she suggests that your political views may be why you're unhappy, and "we" can work to help you "adjust," run. If, on the contrary, he/she suggests that your political views should be very much part of who you are, and is willing to work with you on that, it's promising.

You need to realize that this question is not at all "outside" the realm of therapy, it's been part of it from the beginning. To give a very brief overview:

After WWI, most of Freud's followers had come out of war service as medical psys,, where the issue they confronted was: if a soldier comes in shell-shocked, is my job to get him to "adjust" as soon as possible so he can go back to the business of getting killed? And should I discount the environmental factors, by assuming that it's all in his head that people are trying to kill him?

European shrinks took the environmental factor very seriously; it wasn't until they fled the Nazis and came to America that they encountered so-called "Ego Psychology," which assumes that there's little connection between your fear of being blown to bits and the fact that you're sitting in a foxhole - it's all because you hate your mother.

Curiously, the CPUSA and followers were the first to attack European psychoanalysis as "bourgeois; " Even so, free clinics on the European model were set up in Harlem and elsewhere, where it was understood the folks who came in were very aware of the political dimensions of their problem - ever heard of the Lafargue Clinic? The tradition of non-Ego Psychology is still quite strong, and you should be able to find a shrink who's part of it. If he/she says she's interested in Lacan that's usually a good sign. Hartmann? fuggedaboudit. Good luck.

[Quail]

It probably depends quite a lot on what you want to see someone for. The only time politics has ever come up when I've seen my therapist is when I mentioned that I'm a lot more confident talking and debating a point in front of people because I've spent a lot of time in meetings and things. She kind of raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything further, which I guess is how a professional should act. I'm not sure what the health care is like in Quebec, but you should be able to ask to see someone else if one therapist doesn't work out.

[Salyut]

I've never run into any issues with mine.


She kind of raised an eyebrow, but didn't say anything further, which I guess is how a professional should act.

Exactly.

[Dunk]

Does insurance cover therapy? I think I'm covered by my mother's insurance for the time being, and trying to see a shrink via the VA would probably be an enormous hassle that I don't want to deal with.

[¿Que?]

Does insurance cover therapy? I think I'm covered by my mother's insurance for the time being, and trying to see a shrink via the VA would probably be an enormous hassle that I don't want to deal with.
Yes, but the co-pays are pretty high. Something around $30-$40 per visit. At least with what I have, yours might be better...

[Zeus the Moose]

Depending on the issues you're working with, you may not need to go into your politics at all. I'm actually in a "behavourial crisis center" at a hospital being treated for depression and paranoia at the moment, and my political views or commitments haven't come up in the week that I've been here, though it's come up in sessions with a therapist in the past. I was generally met with interested curiousity, which I thought was a good reaction.

I would echo what other folks have said on this thread; if your therapist makes an issue of your politics, then by all means switch. They might think that something about your politics helped trigger your current situation, so I might suggest hearing them out, but if you're uncomfortable with a therapist for any reason, then you have a right to switch.

[Summerspeaker]

The whole institution of psychotherapy strikes me as counterrevolutionary, as Firestone and other radicals have noted. I've only gone when forced to and didn't enjoy the experience.

[Nothing Human Is Alien]

If you express support for communism or even criticism of capitalist society, expect to be labeled anti-social and/or depressed.

Once when applying for financial assistance I was sent to a psychologist and a psychiatrist for evaluation. The psychologist was a wishy-washy liberal and the psychiatrist had a picture of himself and Ronald Reagan on the wall. I'm not sure which was worse.

On the other hand, the psychologist that evaluated me upon my release from prison said I was "obviously OK" after about one minute and we spent the rest of the time talking about Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, the Sandinistas and the absurdity of psychiatry in the United States (diagnosing "disorders" by a "check off" list of symptoms under which more than 50% of Americans would be considered mentally ill, labeling opposition to oppression and exploitation as "disorders," prescribing drugs even though it's not understood how they work, etc.). He actually asked me to come back sometime and give him some materials on socialism(!).

[Sasha]

i'm in therapy for my burn-out, my therapist is an liberal-conservative by the looks of it but never even asked me one single thing about my politics, he doesnt say much anyway, he really lets me run my own mental trip and find out my behavior myself.

[MarxSchmarx]

I don't know about the situation in Quebec, but my understanding of the rules in anglophone Canada at least are that if a therapist has good reason to believe you pose a credible threat to either yourself or others (or, presumably, their property) they are obligated under law to report you to the authorities to intervene.

It's important to note (again, in the anglophonic regions) that this doesn't apply to past behavior. Thus you can walk into a therapists office, say you did X a few days/weeks/months ago, they are now under strict rules to keep that conversation confidential. But if you say I am doing X now or will do X a few days from now, and the therapist believes you, then they are obliged to report it.

My understanding is that this doesn't apply to banal things like saying I'm going to get hammered this weekend or even "I'm going to go to the USA to buy margarine". It tends to apply rather to things like "I'm going to cut myself this weekend" or stuff like that.

Long story short - by all means, seek help, and if you are at this stage where you have to tell someone else about something pretty drastic (as in, causing physical harm to yourself or others) you are about to do, I'm terribly sorry but an internet forum cannot be of much help to you and you need to call a hotline right now. There are anonymous hotlines you can call throughout north america that will get you on the right path.

e.g. :
(416) 408 4357 (a confidential crisis line in Toronto, should have French service)
(212)-854-7777 (supposedly for columbia students but they have no way of knowing)
(415) 781-0500 (san francisco crisis hotline, also I believe has French speakers available)

[Old Mole]

Many shrinks are like cops, watch out! Ive even meet some that regarded communism to be almost a mental disorder:(

[tracher999]

i hate that shit i love to run my life by myself

@old mole idd