Fornits
Treatment Abuse, Behavior Modification, Thought Reform => The Troubled Teen Industry => Topic started by: Anonymous on February 24, 2005, 11:01:00 AM
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The discussion on the adjacent board concerning Whitmore Academy draws attention to the use of loaded and egregiously wrong words to describe what this industry does. THERAPY, PROFESSIONAL and PROGRAM are the first words that come to mind. "Therapy is administered to adolescents by professionals who promise to bring families back together by following a program." Therapy is a meaningless word. Right now I am doing writing therapy. At lunch I will do some eating therapy. The professionals have become professionals by self designation. In many cases their failures with their own children are their principle and only qualification ("if you walked in my shoes") and the program, created and promoted by therapy providing professionals, is not supported by any study ever done by anyone.
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I appreciate your astute observation and opinion!!!
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I'm in the mood for some sledding therapy! Or maybe I'll just take my camera for a walk in the woods for some phototherapy?
The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing
--Edmund Burke
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In all seriousness, of the 3 terms you mention, I think "professional" is the only one that's patently false in this context.
I've been and probably will be among the first to note that you don't need professional certification or other credentials to decide what is and is not therapeutic. I'd rather drink meadowsweet tea to help w/ dyspepsia than to eat Zantac. I believe meadowsweet is therapeutic, so is the Zantac. But the meadowsweet has fewer adverse side effects.
The medical professional who I consult thinks it's probably just a placebo effect. That's fine. I rely on him to tell me what he knows about diagnostics and available treatments. But I decide for myself what I'll ingest or what "program" or regimen I'll follow.
In the context of the troubled parent industry, people seem to accept outrageously strange and suspicious "therapy" methods. Why? Is it because they believe in the claims of expertise made by industry participants? Even to the point of suspending their own good judgement?
To me, that's just crazy. In my view, whether you're dealing w/ a licensed, board certified doctor or just someone holding out some non-medically accepted "therapy", you should be just as critical and skeptical. After all, these definitons change w/ the times. It's up to each of us to protect ourselves. There is something feeble and contemptible about a man who cannot face life without the help of comfortable myths.
--Bertrand Russell, British philosopher, educator, mathemetician, and social critic
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On 2005-02-24 12:34:00, Antigen wrote:
"In all seriousness, of the 3 terms you mention, I think "professional" is the only one that's patently false in this context."
One definition of "professional" is "does it for money", as in prostitute.