Michael Larkin
Member
I agree that not all psychological therapy is to do with self-actualisation, even though the strong impression I get is that Freudian psychotherapy is meant to be. There was a very interesting British TV series recently on the day-to-day work that goes on with people with psychiatric disorders at what used to be called Bedlam (Bethlem) hospital, founded in 1330: search for "Bedlam" on YouTube and you will see a few clips. They use a combination of drug, cognitive and even electroshock therapy to treat people in psychological crisis or with actual mental illness, and that looks fine to me. Actually, many moons ago I had a period of depression for which taking drugs for a while definitely helped, so I'm not arguing against psychiatric treatment (although some of that has also been dubious in the past).Also, good therapists of any school of thought, IMO, are not there to "provide advice" or to impose "schemas". Whatever new ways of understanding, of feeling about one's self or the world, of relating and acting, that result are a co-construction of the dialogue between therapist and client in trying to help the latter understand and help him or herself. I myself favor approaches that stay near the person's experience, always in their own words, and that don't try to reify and reduce their experience in abstract, intellectual terms or concepts (so Freudianism goes out the window!).