Reply to Negative impact of therapy and "therapy speak"

Forum Index » Health and Medicine

Reply to "Negative impact of therapy and "therapy speak""

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Yes, I’ve thought about this before in the context of “setting boundaries.”  I think it’s overly simplistic for most human relationships to always put yourself first and draw unmovable lines. It’s not how we are inclined to interact with each other, so forcing it seems to mess things up in other ways.  [/quote]

In all the long-term studies of happiness, the biggest factor is the quality of your personal relationships.  Like, it's very clear that having strong personal relationships throughout your life is the most reliable predictor of whether you will be happy.

But all the therapy-speak of "setting boundaries" and "grey-rocking" and "cutting off" anyone who you deem "toxic" or a "narcissist" (super-overused terms IMO) encourages people to drop their relationships in favor of focusing on their happiness.  When it's clear that relationships are what make us happy long-term.

I get that in an abuse situation, the victim needs to cut off the abuser. And some people may be loners who do feel better with fewer interpersonal obligations and interactions. But cutting people off because they are too needy or pushy or opinionated or competitive (flaws! people have them) is just recipe to end up alone with no personal relationships.  And for most people, that will make you unhappy.[/quote]

Setting boundaries and grey rocking are used for people with patterns of very destructive behavior - not a one time perceived slight. I don’t know any therapists telling anyone to drop someone because of a misunderstanding or a minor character flaw. I work with women who are actually survivors of very serious abuse and having this language is not only beneficial, it’s necessary.[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics