I’d like to hear your perspective or personal experience on this.
Please share in the comments.
16 Comments
mitchlawsieAugust 21, 2023
I definitely believe it’s a momentary crutch. Therapy helps us process difficult emotions which arise from trauma and other baggage. I think the durations of leaning on the crutch are variable and depend from individual to individual and a multiplicity of complex factors. Factors such as perceptions and biases and the like
Therapy can be a healing agent when the client connects with the counselor and is willing to receive from them. But unless the client is willing to do the hard work of changing, therapy sessions will end up being hand holding and not much more.
Whether it is crutches, therapy or something in between depends on what we want from life.
What should be our top priority?
Thank you for sharing something so important !
After my vehicular accident which made me a person with a disability, I suffered from short-term depression but didn’t push through with psychological treatments. I was able to overcome it on my own. Well, I’d like to believe that I was successful in overcoming it. Right when I realized that what happened to me is making me depressed (of course, who wouldn’t be?), I forced myself to clear my mind, stand up (mentally), and move forward. It was an immediate and forceful decision to make. I literally forced myself out of it. I can’t explain how I did it but yeah, mind over matter, it worked for me. Though still in a wheelchair. And happy with life. 😊
Too often it depends on whether or not you have insurance. Once that runs out, we sometimes are forced to ‘tough it out’ thinking we can figure it out and get by. Mental health issues ebb and flow which also complicates how long we stay engaged with therapy.
Therapy is the only thing that kept me alive so far. I have been in treatment since 2010 and without it I would have commited suicide years ago. The fact someone was willing to listen to me unreservedly and offer a neutral counsel allowed me to put all my dramas into perspective and deal with them in an adult manner.
I knew I needed help when my coping skills (which I learned were really covering-up skills) were no longer working for me. I felt overwhelmed with depression and grief over several life changes. I needed someone to hear me who had no preconceived ideas or opinions about me. I found therapy to be extremely helpful, but after a time, I knew I had to be on my own.
At first I thought the exercises she gave me were too simplistic and, honestly, cheesy, but I am committed to the process. It surprised me how each exercise built on itself to help me develop a new voice in my head. It is hard work and we can’t expect therapy on its own to produce results. My therapist gave me a new motto: progress, not perfection!
I’ve never done therapy but I have seen it help others, I see it as healthcare and unless you consider other types of healthcare, such as taking medicine, check ups at the doctor, surgery, etc., as a crutch, then it is not a crutch. “crutch” is kind of vague.
Uhmmm, I think it can be all three, which is dependent on why you need to be in therapy in the first place. I’ve been in therapy for about 3years now, the first 18months were very well intensive but now it’s every other week.
During those intensive months, at some point it was a cure to some digging deep mysteries that were exposed, later on it became a crutch because at some point it was like a whole new world, now it’s just something in between because I have found my balance and now can handle some of the developments unlike before.
How long is too long? There’s no such thing as too long when it comes to healing and stability, IMO.
It depends on the therapist. I’ve seen a few over the years, some more helpful than other. The most recent one was the most helpful, in teaching me that I’m not responsible for other people’s behaviour. If they’re cruel and spiteful to me it’s not my fault, it’s theirs. That was the most helpful thing I’ve learned.
I have never had professional therapy but by self, unconsciously I am experiencing it.
I would suggest not to look at it as a therapy but instead look at it as a way to live a better life than before.
At every stage in life, it helps. And there is no time in life where all stress and worry is gone. It all exists at all times, some heavy and huge, some unimportant and light.
The passion to live a better life, to aim and pursue what I want from life, keeps me committed to this therapy for life.
I suppose sometimes it could be a crutch. Sometimes people just need to be listened to. Being able to speak and know that somebody is listening is important even if you’re paying them
It can be both. Sometimes it’s a crutch, but I have rarely met people who use it solely as a crutch. Most people are trying to be better, but they do it for too long. That’s why as a therapist, or someone working within that field, it is incumbent upon us to know when it is time to release our patient, but always be ready to take them back if they need it. There’s a rapport there, and forcing someone to rebuild it with a new therapist can be detrimental.
I definitely believe it’s a momentary crutch. Therapy helps us process difficult emotions which arise from trauma and other baggage. I think the durations of leaning on the crutch are variable and depend from individual to individual and a multiplicity of complex factors. Factors such as perceptions and biases and the like
Therapy can be a healing agent when the client connects with the counselor and is willing to receive from them. But unless the client is willing to do the hard work of changing, therapy sessions will end up being hand holding and not much more.
Whether it is crutches, therapy or something in between depends on what we want from life.
What should be our top priority?
Thank you for sharing something so important !
After my vehicular accident which made me a person with a disability, I suffered from short-term depression but didn’t push through with psychological treatments. I was able to overcome it on my own. Well, I’d like to believe that I was successful in overcoming it. Right when I realized that what happened to me is making me depressed (of course, who wouldn’t be?), I forced myself to clear my mind, stand up (mentally), and move forward. It was an immediate and forceful decision to make. I literally forced myself out of it. I can’t explain how I did it but yeah, mind over matter, it worked for me. Though still in a wheelchair. And happy with life. 😊
Too often it depends on whether or not you have insurance. Once that runs out, we sometimes are forced to ‘tough it out’ thinking we can figure it out and get by. Mental health issues ebb and flow which also complicates how long we stay engaged with therapy.
Therapy is the only thing that kept me alive so far. I have been in treatment since 2010 and without it I would have commited suicide years ago. The fact someone was willing to listen to me unreservedly and offer a neutral counsel allowed me to put all my dramas into perspective and deal with them in an adult manner.
I knew I needed help when my coping skills (which I learned were really covering-up skills) were no longer working for me. I felt overwhelmed with depression and grief over several life changes. I needed someone to hear me who had no preconceived ideas or opinions about me. I found therapy to be extremely helpful, but after a time, I knew I had to be on my own.
At first I thought the exercises she gave me were too simplistic and, honestly, cheesy, but I am committed to the process. It surprised me how each exercise built on itself to help me develop a new voice in my head. It is hard work and we can’t expect therapy on its own to produce results. My therapist gave me a new motto: progress, not perfection!
I’ve never done therapy but I have seen it help others, I see it as healthcare and unless you consider other types of healthcare, such as taking medicine, check ups at the doctor, surgery, etc., as a crutch, then it is not a crutch. “crutch” is kind of vague.
Uhmmm, I think it can be all three, which is dependent on why you need to be in therapy in the first place. I’ve been in therapy for about 3years now, the first 18months were very well intensive but now it’s every other week.
During those intensive months, at some point it was a cure to some digging deep mysteries that were exposed, later on it became a crutch because at some point it was like a whole new world, now it’s just something in between because I have found my balance and now can handle some of the developments unlike before.
How long is too long? There’s no such thing as too long when it comes to healing and stability, IMO.
I think that it can be any of the above, depending upon the overhaul mental health and situation that any given person brings into therapy process
It depends on the therapist. I’ve seen a few over the years, some more helpful than other. The most recent one was the most helpful, in teaching me that I’m not responsible for other people’s behaviour. If they’re cruel and spiteful to me it’s not my fault, it’s theirs. That was the most helpful thing I’ve learned.
I have never had professional therapy but by self, unconsciously I am experiencing it.
I would suggest not to look at it as a therapy but instead look at it as a way to live a better life than before.
At every stage in life, it helps. And there is no time in life where all stress and worry is gone. It all exists at all times, some heavy and huge, some unimportant and light.
The passion to live a better life, to aim and pursue what I want from life, keeps me committed to this therapy for life.
Getting better is always good.
Hope this message helps
It’s contingent on the players. Like most dynamics in psychology. No single answer.
I suppose sometimes it could be a crutch. Sometimes people just need to be listened to. Being able to speak and know that somebody is listening is important even if you’re paying them
Somewhere in between. We all need someone to come alongside us once in a while.
It can be both. Sometimes it’s a crutch, but I have rarely met people who use it solely as a crutch. Most people are trying to be better, but they do it for too long. That’s why as a therapist, or someone working within that field, it is incumbent upon us to know when it is time to release our patient, but always be ready to take them back if they need it. There’s a rapport there, and forcing someone to rebuild it with a new therapist can be detrimental.