I feel like the US American conception of psychotherapy as some kind of cross between psychiatric care and life counseling has caused a lot of non-Americans (who were socialised on the US-dominated internet) to make some pretty sobering experiences when they go to seek therapy in their own countries.
Like, I made this experience myself, and it is so strange in hindsight to think that the medical system would work like I assumed it would.
From what one reads online, you'd expect to go to a therapist and then talk about the emotional, psychological or social things you really struggle with, and they guide you towards how to fix these things. You basically open up to them and they're there to give you empirically sound good advice.
But then you actually go do that, and you talk about how – for example – you really are making an effort to be a better person toward the people you love but how you nonetheless keep messing up because you don't remember the resolutions you made in the relevant moments. Again, just an example.
And then the response from the therapist is: "… and what do you expect me to do about that?What is the specific psychiatric disorder you suspect at play here? What is the diagnosis you seek clarification on?"
And when you're like "uh, I don't know, this just makes my life really hard and I thought therapy would help with these things", the (very dumbfounded) reply is going to be "well, uhm, we are a medical institution, and struggling with aspects of your life and relationships is just part of the regular human experience. Unless you have a medical disorder to treat, why on Earth did you think you need a doctor for this?"
US Americans really make you believe that therapists are there to help fix your emotional and psychological life in general, but that's not true outside the US. They're there to treat pathological psychiatric conditions.
I am not judging either side in this, it's just an interesting observation.
#mentalHealth #therapy #psychology #psychiatry #psychotherapy #therapie #psychotherapie
