10.15.07 From the Viking
DV EXPOSE: Amateur Psychoanalysts
Sigmund Freud didn’t invent psychiatry, but he did make it really friggin’ popular. While most of his theories have been abandoned by modern day psychiatrists, his impact as a populizer of the profession has been deep. Oh, so deep. And the worst byproduct of this impact? That everyone and their mom is an amateur psychoanalyst now. Yeeesh.
We’ve all been putting up with amateur psychoanalysis for too long…it’s time something is said.
WHAT IS AMATEUR PSYCHOANALYSIS?
“Amateur psychoanalysis” is a term I’m giving to the commonly seen behavior where someone with little or no training as a mental health professional attempts to psychoanalyze others. The “psychoanalysis” can range from a casual attempt at solving someone’s problem (“Dude, sounds like you’ve got some issues from childhood you need to work out”) to a clumsy and stumbling stab at professional analysis (“You had a dream about a clown? I think that’s supposed to mean you’re gay”.
WHERE DOES AMATEUR PSYCHOANALYSIS COME FROM?
Once psychoanalysis appeared in movies and on TV, people do what they always do: they copied what they saw. The same way idiots repeat the stunts they see on “Jackass” and burn their houses down thanks to “Beavis and Butthead,” idiots started talking and acting like the psychiatrists and psychologists they saw on TV. Yay!!
WHY IS AMATEUR PSYCHOANALYSIS SO FUCKING ANNOYING?
If you just look at all the idiot kids who are on Ritalin and Paxil you can see that mental health professionals are fucking up right now. And that’s the PROFESSIONALS. So what makes you, a manager at Best Buy, think you have the right, the know-how and the expertise to “psychoanalyze” me?
I don’t think I can go a day without hearing someone’s feeble minded attempt at breaking down my problems (“Oh Lukas, you look mad…sounds like you’ve got a lot of blocked issues you need to deal with!” “No…it’s just that you’re standing on my fucking foot”).
The truth is that the practice of analysis is already dubious beyond extreme cases (like people in psych wards and drug addicts, people dealing with death, shit like that). So I don’t need my “case of the Monday’s” broken down and mapped back to some incident that happened to me on a Monday as a kid (sorry I let my grandpa give me pantsless lap rides on Monday’s, what’s a brother to do?)
THE HARMS
You know what happens when really persuasive amateur psychoanalysts start to gain footing and influence? You get things like Scientology, a “religion” bent on attacking psychiatry that’s actually just a bastardized version of psychiatry itself. And Scientologists hate “South Park,” so you know they’re full of shit.
You also get shit like “The Secret,” which compiles a collection of self help gurus (AKA amateur psychoanalysts) who want to show you that the “secret” to life is to have blind belief in bullshit like ignorant positivity.
The more people attempt to self diagnose their problems (and the problems of their friends and family) the further people get from the true root of most of their problems…which isn’t some buried childhood memory, but the shit going on in your life right now.
THE IRONY
The funny thing about angrily attacking an issue like amateur psychoanalysis is that a slew of amateur psychoanalysts reading this are gonna try to diagnose the anger that’s emanating from the article itself. I’m sure I’m gonna get some emails saying:” Sounds like you’ve got some relationship problems, Lukas!” “Do you have trouble communicating without ranting?” Or, of course, “Sounds like you need to get laid!” Unfortunately for you, I just did get laid, a few hours before I wrote this. Sorry, your retarded amateur version of analysis doesn’t work. Why don’t YOU get laid?Share this on Digg, Facebook, Stumbleupon, etc.
umchaos
10/15/2007 13:24
Sounds like you’ve got some relationship problems, Lukas! Do you have trouble communicating without ranting? Sounds like you need to get laid!
Juan Valdez
10/15/2007 15:16
Aww...umchaos beat me too it. Anyway is there an email distribution list somewhere that we can send this to major TV networks so all of their talk show hosts can stfu??
Dirk
10/16/2007 01:49
"...the further people get from the true root of most of their problems…which isn’t some buried childhood memory, but the shit going on in your life right now."
Nice analysis. I won't disagree with your contention that the process of analysis is dubious, regardless of your obvious ignorance concerning the specific treatment modalities that "analysis" refers to and the presenting problems for which it is indicated. You would be extremely hard-pressed to find anyone performing analysis in psych wards or with drug addicts, because analysis requires several sessions per week and is cost prohibitive.
Your claim that most professionals have abandoned the theories of Freud is also "dubious at best". I know many professionals who hold Freud's ideas in high esteem. Furthermore, the schools of thought that are derived from Freud's psychoanalytic theory: Jungian, Self Psychology, Attachment Theory, Object Relations, etc., are alive and well and widely utilized in practice and clinical fomulation. In fact, many university counseling centers employ a modified version of Dynamic Psychotherapy, derived from Freudian Analysis, in their treatment models.
I know, you're tired of being reminded of all the complexity...in the world, in relationships, in yourself. Rest assured that amateur analysis bears very little in common with actual therapy (which relies far more on experience than the didactic "analysis" you've seen on T.V. for the development of new insight and structural change), and that many people benefit from the experience of thinking about themselves in relation to others.
Nice analysis. I won't disagree with your contention that the process of analysis is dubious, regardless of your obvious ignorance concerning the specific treatment modalities that "analysis" refers to and the presenting problems for which it is indicated. You would be extremely hard-pressed to find anyone performing analysis in psych wards or with drug addicts, because analysis requires several sessions per week and is cost prohibitive.
Your claim that most professionals have abandoned the theories of Freud is also "dubious at best". I know many professionals who hold Freud's ideas in high esteem. Furthermore, the schools of thought that are derived from Freud's psychoanalytic theory: Jungian, Self Psychology, Attachment Theory, Object Relations, etc., are alive and well and widely utilized in practice and clinical fomulation. In fact, many university counseling centers employ a modified version of Dynamic Psychotherapy, derived from Freudian Analysis, in their treatment models.
I know, you're tired of being reminded of all the complexity...in the world, in relationships, in yourself. Rest assured that amateur analysis bears very little in common with actual therapy (which relies far more on experience than the didactic "analysis" you've seen on T.V. for the development of new insight and structural change), and that many people benefit from the experience of thinking about themselves in relation to others.
Shawn
10/19/2007 17:42
Hi Lukas,
Talk about calling the kettle the black.
I found it ironic you attack Scientology and promote South Park - where South Park defames many different bona fide religions (Christianity, Jewish, etc.). Does this mean you’re an avid proponent of something as unserious as South Park?
Scientology´s international efforts through Narconon to rehabilitate drugged and intoxicated individuals (http://www.narconon.org) with a 85% success rate, it´s international good will projects to raise literacy level through the Applied Scholastics network (http://www.appliedscholastics.org), it´s Criminon (http://www.criminon.org) rehabilitation, reform and crime prevention programs, along with a myriad other outreach programs to help society should not be attacked, but helped. Attacking Scientology for its international volunteer efforts in helping society in reducing recidivism, crime, drugs, etc. makes an much sense as an assault on the wonderful outreach programs the Pope engages in.
Funny thing is, it almost sounds as though you’re supporting Psychiatry.
It would be a miracle if the psychiatry would get their facts straight concerning “Mental Disorder”. At the 2006 APA conference, over 200 psychiatrists were interviewed. Each one, when asked, said there are absolutely no biological tests which proved mental illness.
There are undisputed facts that link 2/3 of the psychiatric community, which makes up 6% of entire medical field, to the unholy ties to the pharmaceutical industry, not to mention the unending reported cases of psychiatric sexual abuse of patents (15 reported cases in the first 10 days of March 2007).
What about the 220 psychiatrists arrests in the past 8 months for abuse of its patients? What about the 17 million children taking antipsychotics daily – where if the child is too young to swallow a pill, they give the child minty favored liquid Prozac.
Psychiatrists admit that there are no medical test that can prove anyone has a "mental illness"
Psychiatrists admit they cannot cure their patients.
Yet, insurance in the U.S. alone pays out $69billion in mental health costs annually.
And international psychiatric drug sales have reached $76 billion per year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18fjWAjOwc0
Lukas. What are you doing to help?
Talk about calling the kettle the black.
I found it ironic you attack Scientology and promote South Park - where South Park defames many different bona fide religions (Christianity, Jewish, etc.). Does this mean you’re an avid proponent of something as unserious as South Park?
Scientology´s international efforts through Narconon to rehabilitate drugged and intoxicated individuals (http://www.narconon.org) with a 85% success rate, it´s international good will projects to raise literacy level through the Applied Scholastics network (http://www.appliedscholastics.org), it´s Criminon (http://www.criminon.org) rehabilitation, reform and crime prevention programs, along with a myriad other outreach programs to help society should not be attacked, but helped. Attacking Scientology for its international volunteer efforts in helping society in reducing recidivism, crime, drugs, etc. makes an much sense as an assault on the wonderful outreach programs the Pope engages in.
Funny thing is, it almost sounds as though you’re supporting Psychiatry.
It would be a miracle if the psychiatry would get their facts straight concerning “Mental Disorder”. At the 2006 APA conference, over 200 psychiatrists were interviewed. Each one, when asked, said there are absolutely no biological tests which proved mental illness.
There are undisputed facts that link 2/3 of the psychiatric community, which makes up 6% of entire medical field, to the unholy ties to the pharmaceutical industry, not to mention the unending reported cases of psychiatric sexual abuse of patents (15 reported cases in the first 10 days of March 2007).
What about the 220 psychiatrists arrests in the past 8 months for abuse of its patients? What about the 17 million children taking antipsychotics daily – where if the child is too young to swallow a pill, they give the child minty favored liquid Prozac.
Psychiatrists admit that there are no medical test that can prove anyone has a "mental illness"
Psychiatrists admit they cannot cure their patients.
Yet, insurance in the U.S. alone pays out $69billion in mental health costs annually.
And international psychiatric drug sales have reached $76 billion per year.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18fjWAjOwc0
Lukas. What are you doing to help?
Lukas
11/26/2007 23:56
Writing articles. That's what I do.
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