http://alaindebotton.com/a-new-priesthood-psychotherapists/
Alain de Botton
1 of 2
4.10.2013. 18:19
http://alaindebotton.com/a-new-priesthood-psychotherapists/
For a start, therapy remains a minority activity, out of reach of most people, too expensive or simply not available in certain parts of the country. There have been laudable efforts on the parts of activists to introduce therapy into the medical system, but progress is slow and vulnerable. The issue isnt just economic. Its one of attitudes. Whereas Christian societies would imagine there was something wrong with you if you didnt visit a priest, we tend to assume that therapists are there solely for moments of extreme crisis and are a sign that the visiting client might be a little unbalanced, rather than just human. A principally physical model of the self is popular, which leads to a preference for problems to be addressed by pills rather than interpersonal relationships. This isnt to say that drugs are not important in many situations, simply to make a supplementary case for therapeutic conversation with a sympathetic other. Theres also, in a serious sense, an issue of branding here. Therapists are hidden away. You dont see them on the high street. They still arent regulated as they should be. We dont make a place for them among other needs like those for bread or electrical goods. Imagine if the need for therapeutic dialogue was as honoured and recognised as the need for a haircut or a go on an exercise machine. Imagine if seeing a therapist wasnt a strange and still rather embarrassing pursuit. Imagine if one could be guaranteed a certain level of service. Imagine if the consulting rooms looked better and were more visible, to make a case for the dignity of the activity. Modern psychotherapists understanding of how humans work and what they need to cope with existence is, in my eyes, immensely more sophisticated than that of priests. Nevertheless, religions have been expert at creating a proper role for the priest, as a person to talk to at all important moments of life, without this seeming like a slightly unhinged minority thing to do. Many people may well say that the cafe and a few friends are all they need; after one or two big challenges, a great many more may feel that life is sufficiently complicated that theyd benefit from regular dialogue with a sympathetic third party in a stigma-free, well-branded reassuring location. For those interested in the challenge, theres a long way to go before therapy really plugs the gap opened up by the decline in the priesthood.
2013
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4.10.2013. 18:19