When the “someone” mentioned in the second panel is a mental health professional and the question from the third panel, after my hour-long infodumping about current geopolitics, current technological enshittification, spiritual beliefs (i.e. my hatred against Demiurge, my devotion for Lilith), the ongoing anthropogenic climate and ecological catastrophes, the human history going back all the way when some hominid fell from a tree during a heavy storm and stumbled upon the fire from the lightning strike back in Paleolithic, etc…, is a dismissive “But have you been eating and pooping regularly? How’s your sleep?”.
That’s why I stopped taking my existential issues to psychiatry and psychology.
See for me it’s been therapists thinking that if I just got a job, I’d stop being depressed (this was in the wake of being canned for a bullshit reason after a long absence due to cancer – I’m better now, at least in terms of cancer). This is to say nothing of the fact that the things I was upset and complained about were not at all pertinent to a job search (mostly relationships, loneliness, fear over the fascist takeover, etc).
Multiple different therapists came to this same conclusion, and you know what? I have a part time job now! And it didn’t cure my depression at all! Fancy that – contributing to the Trump economy has not made me meaningfully happier, or even meaningfully less poor/more able to afford things I’d enjoy! wow! who’d have guessed.
I am somewhat increasingly convinced that professional therapists (or at least the ones my insurance covers) are just bullshitters that have turned bullshit into a career, like chiropractors. Maybe there are some that aren’t, but I’d rather have a psychiatrist, at least they’ve actually got some means of fucking doing something (even if that something is just throwing SSRIs at the wall and seeing what sticks – so far, nothing has, but I could be proven wrong any day now!).
They can help. My wife is currently undergoing DBT for trauma and the results have been very noticeable, including on her depression.
And unfortunately the thing is, sometimes those answers do help. When I’m unemployed I fall into a depressive funk. When I don’t exercise I don’t have the mental energy I need to live my best life. I forget to drink water. These are low hanging fruit of mental health, and so they can be good to try first. You just need therapists who can do more than just that. No amount of exercise was going to do enough for my anxiety and abandonment issues, but CBT worked miracles for them.
I didn’t think that was a thing that actual licensed therapists said unless they were specifically affiliated with some kind of religious organization.
Same here, I got the impression that therapists aren’t interested in that sort of stuff and when we kept focusing on the shallow lifestyle stuff I felt like it wasn’t getting anywhere and stopped going
When the “someone” mentioned in the second panel is a mental health professional and the question from the third panel, after my hour-long infodumping about current geopolitics, current technological enshittification, spiritual beliefs (i.e. my hatred against Demiurge, my devotion for Lilith), the ongoing anthropogenic climate and ecological catastrophes, the human history going back all the way when some hominid fell from a tree during a heavy storm and stumbled upon the fire from the lightning strike back in Paleolithic, etc…, is a dismissive “But have you been eating and pooping regularly? How’s your sleep?”.
That’s why I stopped taking my existential issues to psychiatry and psychology.
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When they tell me it’s time to pray and leave it up to God is when I realize two things:
See for me it’s been therapists thinking that if I just got a job, I’d stop being depressed (this was in the wake of being canned for a bullshit reason after a long absence due to cancer – I’m better now, at least in terms of cancer). This is to say nothing of the fact that the things I was upset and complained about were not at all pertinent to a job search (mostly relationships, loneliness, fear over the fascist takeover, etc).
Multiple different therapists came to this same conclusion, and you know what? I have a part time job now! And it didn’t cure my depression at all! Fancy that – contributing to the Trump economy has not made me meaningfully happier, or even meaningfully less poor/more able to afford things I’d enjoy! wow! who’d have guessed.
I am somewhat increasingly convinced that professional therapists (or at least the ones my insurance covers) are just bullshitters that have turned bullshit into a career, like chiropractors. Maybe there are some that aren’t, but I’d rather have a psychiatrist, at least they’ve actually got some means of fucking doing something (even if that something is just throwing SSRIs at the wall and seeing what sticks – so far, nothing has, but I could be proven wrong any day now!).
I’m so glad you survived the cancer. Fuck cancer and fuck chiropractors (fuck cancer more, though)
They can help. My wife is currently undergoing DBT for trauma and the results have been very noticeable, including on her depression.
And unfortunately the thing is, sometimes those answers do help. When I’m unemployed I fall into a depressive funk. When I don’t exercise I don’t have the mental energy I need to live my best life. I forget to drink water. These are low hanging fruit of mental health, and so they can be good to try first. You just need therapists who can do more than just that. No amount of exercise was going to do enough for my anxiety and abandonment issues, but CBT worked miracles for them.
I didn’t think that was a thing that actual licensed therapists said unless they were specifically affiliated with some kind of religious organization.
Nope… that was the last time I talked to her
Same here, I got the impression that therapists aren’t interested in that sort of stuff and when we kept focusing on the shallow lifestyle stuff I felt like it wasn’t getting anywhere and stopped going