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Does anyone here seek counseling/therapy?
msac123
Explorer
How does it benefit you if you do?
0
Comments
It helps because I have a friend going inside my mind and view. We are able to discover more together than I would alone.
Not any more, but I did undergo some stress therapy, which at first made me uncomfortable when I learned that the counselor I was assigned by my health provider was someone that I knew personally. But I quickly got beyond that, and it was helpful in teaching me coping skills.
I went to a psychologist, a former Jesuit priest, for a number of years a long time ago. When I started out, I was afraid that the experience might draw me away from the Zen practice I was devoting a lot of time to. I went in part because I sensed that if I didn't honestly get to the bottom of my own (pardon the expression) shit, my Zen practice would remain shallow and hokey. Still, I worried that psychology might tip over the Zen applecart.
It wasn't easy -- or rather some days were easy and some days were hard -- but I turned out to be right and wrong: Right that honesty was very important and wrong that investigating the psychological perspective would somehow dislodge my interest in and appreciation for Zen.
There are many ways of describing the outcome, but one of them is that it helped to make it clear that no one can lead more or less than one complete life. Trying to separate one part from another -- weakness from strength, spirituality from going to work, blissful clarity from a horny little teenager -- is a fool's errand. One life means whole-life ... not more and not less. And learning to enjoy it is worth the effort.
I have had therapy/counselling, even done co-counselling through the net. Even learned it as part of a formal course. I no longer seek it but if an opportunity or requirement arose, I would be happy for Mr Cushion to sit with me . . . :screwy:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Co-counselling
Therapy is very helpful. Been to it myself, and hope to become one! (In college for a Psych degree currently)
A therapist has a very unique position - someone with your well-being in mind, but doesn't have to be a friend, and they're paid and required, to keep your confidence.
They lack the "tunnel vision" that you or anyone you may know, allowing them to have a more objective view about how to help you resolve your problems.
I haven't been one since embracing the Buddha, course I wouldn't mind - probably need it! Considering both the Buddha and therapists wish to help people interpret the world/their problems correctly, I actually think both therapy and Buddha dovetail very nicely.
Being a therapy patient was very liberating for me - I could say/express whatever I wanted. I know therapists differed in style, but I was never told I was wrong - I was told what I could for myself to resolve an issue.
Might have been some reverse psychology going on, but I was given the tools to resolve my problems, and my therapist adopted a "its your choice: I've told you what to do, I encourage you to do it, but you've always got the option of not doing it - but odds are your problem will still be there" attitude. There was no judgement or at least, none that I could detect. It could also be the his attitude was when he adopted with me - therapists tell you what they think you need to hear to help you solve your problems, and how its said is just as important as what is said.
Its much healthier than trying to solve it alone. Been there, done that, got the T-shirt.
I did therapy for about 4 years on and off. Ive had my share of issues from minor depression to emotional over eating to the death of my wife. My therapist became more of a friend then a psychologist. I haven't seen him for a year and a half at this point but he is one person I will be visiting to say goodbye to as I move towards renunciation.
He was pretty instrumental in showing me how its ok to accept help, this lead me to getting my weight loss surgery, and around the same time my buddhist practice started to take off. The further i've gone in my practice the less therapy I needed and it was done.
Sometimes we cant even approach Dharma until we have worked through some of our stuff..
It is fairly common for Lamas with knowledge of western culture to require some of those who want to learn from them to have counselling before they will take them on as students.
It was good for me. I'm a talker......so when I was going through something that I wasn't comfortable talking to anyone in my circles about, It helped a lot.
Dealing with the issue was up to me but feeling like I had been heard gave me some giddy up and helped me break through the avoidance.
I was diagnosed with Social Anxiety Disorder about 4-5 years ago. I wasn't a Buddhist then, but the cognitive behavioural therapy and basic mindfulness exercises I was exposed to lead me to Buddhism eventually.
I would say that therapy really helped. It helped me see that my anxiety triggers were more or less fabrications of the ego, with a good helping of self-centredness to boot (e.g. "I can't go back to that class - everyone will stare at me and know I'm the noisy nose-blowing guy!"). I knew I was irrational, but I needed that structured push from the therapist to help me cope.
Cured? Maybe not 100%, but I definitely know how to handle my anxiety now.
I spent a year with a psychiatrist a few years ago. I was carrying a fair bit of baggage (guilt and anger) from my childhood. Particularly toward my mother.
It helped me let all that go and I've noticed my anxiety drop away a fair bit.
I entered therapy a year and a half ago, and it is WHY I began serious Dharma practice. My therapist is not a Buddhist, but her therapeutic model is "Dharmic". Many therapists and counselors are coming around to this, thankfully.
She's been sort of like having a Dharma teacher for my trauma issues (abusive marriage). Now that the trauma has been mostly expunged and my emotional life is stabilizing, I'm looking for a teacher who comes from the buddhist sangha itself.
IMHO, Buddha was more of a psychologist than a 'godling'. He was a hacker of the human mind. The Dharma is (to me anyway) indistinguishable from contemporary psychotherapy in it's most base essense. The purpose of both is the cessation of suffering
I'm studying Counselling/Therapy, and worked closely with a Relationships counselling organisation, for 4 years, in the late '90's.
I myself, of course, have no need of any form of therapy.
I have been in therapy and on medication for Bipolar 2 (hypomanic/depressive) for a number of years. I took a hiatus from talk therapy since early last Fall, but I am going to resume it. In therapy I do most of the talking, with my therapist just occasionally prompting me to explore an idea. In doing most of the talking, I have been able to figure things out on my own. My therapist was very pleased when I returned to a more spiritual and dharmic way of life.
I did therapy for 12 years. First every week then every two weeks. Now I go rarely and the reason is to touch bases with my therapist in case I need someone in my corner in the future.