Noncompliant94 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could you tell me more about how you see it in
> your industry?
///
I work, or worked in the field of executive coaching and organization development until I asked too many questions.
>
> I mainly see it at work and in my field. I work at
> a mental health web magazine and do research in
> the field of mental health law and policy, and it
> seems like everyone has their own version of, “If
> you just do X then all your suffering would go
> away, but you’re not doing X well enough so you’re
> still suffering.” X could be meditation,
> mindfulness, yoga, exercise, medication, therapy,
> “seeking help,” “taking care of your body,”
> “thinking positive,” “practicing gratitude,” etc.
> The idea is that a person can just choose to end
> their suffering and that if they’re still
> suffering then they’re not making that choice or
> they’re not working hard enough.
ARGH!!! -- yes, I can very much relate to what you are reporting.
Couple of things I would observe about both the mental health 'industry' and its cousin 'self-help' in the U.S. (note, my field is a cousin to both of these enterprises), is that they like to SELL STUFF, are super, super commoditized, and when the stuff doesn't 'work', the carpenter NEVER blames his/her tools. This may be a partial legacy of LGAT.
Then there is what I think is a kind of American idea around "all suffering can be fixed"...or, "should be fixed".
I tend to be more of the Jordan Peterson school, of 'life is truly a bitch, and entails for many humans, significant hardship'...but, that joy, and a great deal of character building, can be netted from transcending obstacles.
To me, LGAT culture is all about FAKE transcendence, and magical solutions, cheating, if you will. It is a cheater culture. It, and its ilk, over-promises and under-delivers, and then blames the, well, patient, client, participant. And, many patients, clients, participants buy into this rendition of reality, and try all the harder.
I dunno,...I once did a volunteer stint in an AIDs hospice, and I figured out from this that one is powerless before certain kinds of suffering, and there is no fixing of this, really NOT.
I think people, all of us, can attain dignity in our suffering, the intractable kind, and that is a good as it gets.
I do think that suffering can be increased by the fraudster healers who don't recognize their own powerlessness, and blame the victim.
My field used to be kinda normal...you know, helping people to help themselves become a little more effective in their little roles on earth.
NOW it is about TRANSFORMATION.
I think this is all a poor replacement for real spirituality.
All I can think to say...
>
> I feel like every other day I run into a colleague
> that shares some amount of this viewpoint. Just
> yesterday my colleague was talking about how she
> has a client who takes lithium for bipolar
> disorder, but if he just “took better care of
> himself” by not drinking so much and exercising
> more then he wouldn’t need to be on medication.
> Another one of my colleagues said that people who
> take psychiatric medication aren’t living up to
> their full human potential. I’ve also heard
> colleagues say that they feel burdened by their
> clients and if their clients just took medication
> then they wouldn’t be suffering so much.
>
> I just feel like almost everyone espouses this
> belief in some kind of way and I just want to
> escape from it so badly.
-------------------------------------------------------
> Could you tell me more about how you see it in
> your industry?
///
I work, or worked in the field of executive coaching and organization development until I asked too many questions.
>
> I mainly see it at work and in my field. I work at
> a mental health web magazine and do research in
> the field of mental health law and policy, and it
> seems like everyone has their own version of, “If
> you just do X then all your suffering would go
> away, but you’re not doing X well enough so you’re
> still suffering.” X could be meditation,
> mindfulness, yoga, exercise, medication, therapy,
> “seeking help,” “taking care of your body,”
> “thinking positive,” “practicing gratitude,” etc.
> The idea is that a person can just choose to end
> their suffering and that if they’re still
> suffering then they’re not making that choice or
> they’re not working hard enough.
ARGH!!! -- yes, I can very much relate to what you are reporting.
Couple of things I would observe about both the mental health 'industry' and its cousin 'self-help' in the U.S. (note, my field is a cousin to both of these enterprises), is that they like to SELL STUFF, are super, super commoditized, and when the stuff doesn't 'work', the carpenter NEVER blames his/her tools. This may be a partial legacy of LGAT.
Then there is what I think is a kind of American idea around "all suffering can be fixed"...or, "should be fixed".
I tend to be more of the Jordan Peterson school, of 'life is truly a bitch, and entails for many humans, significant hardship'...but, that joy, and a great deal of character building, can be netted from transcending obstacles.
To me, LGAT culture is all about FAKE transcendence, and magical solutions, cheating, if you will. It is a cheater culture. It, and its ilk, over-promises and under-delivers, and then blames the, well, patient, client, participant. And, many patients, clients, participants buy into this rendition of reality, and try all the harder.
I dunno,...I once did a volunteer stint in an AIDs hospice, and I figured out from this that one is powerless before certain kinds of suffering, and there is no fixing of this, really NOT.
I think people, all of us, can attain dignity in our suffering, the intractable kind, and that is a good as it gets.
I do think that suffering can be increased by the fraudster healers who don't recognize their own powerlessness, and blame the victim.
My field used to be kinda normal...you know, helping people to help themselves become a little more effective in their little roles on earth.
NOW it is about TRANSFORMATION.
I think this is all a poor replacement for real spirituality.
All I can think to say...
>
> I feel like every other day I run into a colleague
> that shares some amount of this viewpoint. Just
> yesterday my colleague was talking about how she
> has a client who takes lithium for bipolar
> disorder, but if he just “took better care of
> himself” by not drinking so much and exercising
> more then he wouldn’t need to be on medication.
> Another one of my colleagues said that people who
> take psychiatric medication aren’t living up to
> their full human potential. I’ve also heard
> colleagues say that they feel burdened by their
> clients and if their clients just took medication
> then they wouldn’t be suffering so much.
>
> I just feel like almost everyone espouses this
> belief in some kind of way and I just want to
> escape from it so badly.