July 16, 2016

"Citizen Therapists?!"

Exclaims Meade, reading the previous post, which begins with a quote from Historians Against Trump: "Along with Historians Against Trump, groups like Writers On Trump and Citizen Therapists are organizing in defense of the ideals in which their professions are grounded."

I clicked from the HAT page through to the Citizen Therapists page and hit this (click to enlarge):



Well, I would like to read their manifesto...



... but I don't want to read & sign it, so I dare not click the button, lest it constitute a signing.

My tag for posts on this subject is "Trump derangement syndrome," which is already a bit of a spoof of therapists. But here are the therapists walking straight into into it. Look at the grandiosity and anxiety and dramatic distortion that leaps off the page beyond which I dare not click:
Trumpism:
is antithetical to everything we stand for as therapists.
is inconsistent with democracy, with the rights of ethnic and religious minorities, and with emotionally healthy living.
promotes hyper-masculinity, public hostility, the cult of the Strong Man, and the denigration of women.
presents a threat beyond a single election; the next demagogue may be less outrageous--and thus even more dangerous.
A therapist treats a particular troubled individual, encountered personally, but these therapists throw off their own profession. They want to get out from "behind closed doors" — i.e., leave the context for which they have training — and diagnose millions of people as suffering from a made-up disorder they call "Trumpism." They want to use their professionalism by throwing it away. Expertise doesn't work like that.

67 comments:

Michael K said...

I thought everything but Islam included "the denigration of women."

Islam protects them in their burkhas from everything modern.

An occasional beating should be worth that.

rhhardin said...

If they were psychiatrists they could take drugs for it.

rhhardin said...

It's unresolved father issues.

Sebastian said...

"these therapists throw off their own profession." Oh? Depends on what they are professing to profess. Methinks they make it very clear. Therapists are to healing what RBG is to judging.

"They want to use their professionalism by throwing it away. Expertise doesn't work like that." Assumes several facts not in evidence.

Ann Althouse said...

Manifesto?

We need a womanifesto.

Wince said...

Trumpism is the ability to instill in one's enemies the exact qualities they criticize you for, whether it's Notorious RBG or The Rapists.

Michael K said...

I wonder if the Democrat convention in two weeks will have enough therapists available ?

This could get ugly.

Etienne said...

The clue train stopped for these wacko's four times a day for eight years and they never got aboard.

Anonymous said...

Mental Health professionals are co-opted in many modern authoritarian regimes to identify and neutralize opponents. Sad to see some in our country trying to expand its use yet again.

Anonymous said...

At the rate all the "right people" are freaking out over Trump, they might just end up getting him elected. And then "Trumpism" may actually come into being except as a state of mental breakdown from being unable to cope with the idea that the man is president.

shiloh said...

Gobbledygook nonsense aside, slow news day?

David Begley said...

Every day Althouse moves closer to voting against Hillary and for Trump.

I'm calling my shot right now.

And Althouse brings Wisconsin with her.

shiloh said...

"And Althouse brings Wisconsin with her."

Maybe Meade, if anyone ~ sort of like the '36 election as Maine goes so goes VT.

Keep hope alive!

Mary Beth said...

Clicking the manifesto doesn't equal signing it. They ask for a name and city/state, which will show on a Google Map of signers.

gspencer said...

Would be willing to bet the ranch that none of these so-called mental health experts see anything wrong in the socially adverse pathologies caused by Islam.

Fernandinande said...

"Trumpism will undermine the emotional health of those seen as the “other” in America—both historically denigrated groups and those whose turn will come."

That'll be good for business.

"the next demagogue may be less outrageous--and thus even more dangerous."

OK.

David Begley said...

Mary Beth

But none in Madison! Something's up in Dane County.

damikesc said...

I guess the old rules on not offering psychological analysis on somebody you never met is going away again.

Paco Wové said...

The Great Sorting continues.

Real American said...

evidently, The Rapists stand for being a bunch of historically ignorant left wing whiny cunts who nobody should take very seriously.

mockturtle said...

You've got that right, R.A.!

Mary Beth said...

There are three in my city. One doesn't have a website but has bad reviews other places. The other two work together doing couple and family therapy. Their website has the menu in Comic Sans. (Are these people not worried about being doxxed?)

This seems like a great way to drum up business. Convince people that they only like Trump because they need therapy.

Michael said...

Now let's be clear about what a "therapist" is. Many divorced women become "therapists" after a few sessions with one themselves. It takes nothing much to become one. They are not medical doctors, have no requirement for rigorous scientific course work. They, divorced women, become therapists. Or decorators. Therapist is a bullshit occupation.

Mary Beth said...

The rationalization page.

Doesn’t this manifesto cross the line between professional work and political work?

This question goes to the heart of the matter. If you treat anxious or depressed Latino or Muslim clients who are frightened about Trumpism, is your job only to treat their symptoms or to also oppose public xenophobia? If you treat couples where men are influenced by a culture of double-down, admit-no-mistakes masculinity, is your work only with your own clients when hyper-masculinity is now being culturally celebrated?

All professions exist to promote the public good. That’s why society gives us the right to self-regulate, decide on our own ethics codes, and determine entry requirements. The public good is more than taking care of the people who find their way to our offices.

Why not do this through professional associations rather than through one therapist authoring and promoting a manifesto?

Two reasons, one legal and the other about scope.

Legally, our professional associations are constrained by their non-profit status from activities that could be construed as partisan and taking sides in an election. Even if they tried to walk a line between Trump the candidate and Trumpism the ideology (or called it something else), they could public backlash, legal action, and perhaps an IRS investigation. Nonprofit regulations work fine during normal times but these are abnormal times.

tim maguire said...

They want to use their professionalism by throwing it away. Expertise doesn't work like that.

I'm sufficiently deeply embedded in therapy culture to confidently say it's because they are frauds and charlatans.

khematite said...

Not the first time this issue has arisen. Barry Goldwater was a victim of this kind of malpractice during the 1964 presidential election.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-personality-analyst/201003/the-fact-magazine-libel-trial-the-supreme-court

Paco Wové said...

I told my spouse last night, "Normally, I'd only have one drink with dinner, but these are Abnormal Times™, so I'd better have three or four."

mockturtle said...

Physical therapists are actually useful.

Crimso said...

"Manifesto?"

It certainly is an attoaggression, isn't it?

I'm thinking the manifesto is actually a trick to get therapists who need to see therapists to self-identify.

SukieTawdry said...

It's safe to click through to the manifesto, Ann. It's pretty tepid stuff. This was interesting, though:

We must speak out for the well-being of people we treat and care for in our work. Trumpism will undermine the emotional health of those seen as the “other” in America—both historically denigrated groups and those whose turn will come. And it will compromise the integrity of those who are seduced by the illusion that real Americans can only become winners if others become losers. The public rhetoric of Trumpism normalizes what therapists work against in our work: the tendency to blame others in our lives for our personal fears and insecurities and then battle these others instead of taking the healthier but more difficult path of self-awareness and self-responsibility. It also normalizes a kind of hyper-masculinity that is antithetical to the examined life and healthy relationships that psychotherapy helps people achieve. Simply stated, Trumpism is inconsistent with emotionally healthy living—and we have to say so publicly.

We must speak out for the well-being of our democracy, which is both a way of living and acting together and a set of political institutions. Therapists have taken for granted how our work relies on a democratic tradition that gives people a sense of personal agency to create new narratives and take personal and collective responsibility for themselves, their families, and their communities. Reliance on a Strong Man who will solve our problems and deal with internal and external enemies is a direct threat to the democratic basis of psychotherapy. Therapy only flourishes on democratic soil.


I never knew that psychotherapy was based in democracy. I wonder if the same rules of "personal and collective responsibility" apply to the "other" or if members of "historically denigrated groups" are treated under an alternative protocol.

buwaya said...

I would sign a mirror image of their paper.
Everything they are against, as they listed them, I am for, and vice versa.
The lack of insight into the depths and breadths of human nature does raise questions about their therapeutic abilities though.

ddh said...

We can understand the notion of a citizen therapist if we translate it back into its original language: Citoyen Thérapeute. Citoyen Robespierre would instantly understand how therapeutic the idea is meant to be.

YoungHegelian said...

Ah, this harkens back to the halcyon days of the postwar "Freudians Against Fascism".

Peter Nathan's "the beast in the bed", or Eric Fromm's "Escape from Freedom". And who could ever forget National Socialism as caused by repressed orgone energy.

There really is nothing new under the sun.

PB said...

Every 4 years, the Dems come out with the same old shit about the Republican candidate. Lemmings. At least they could try to be original and creative.

shiloh said...

"At least they could try to be original and creative."

The truth re: Reps is everlasting/eternal.

tim in vermont said...

Shiloh says it all, liberalism is a mental disorder. Only deranged people believe in "everlasting eternal truths."

harrogate said...

There's a Derangement Syndrome for all of them now, I guess.

rehajm said...

#We'llHelpYouPack

exiledonmainstreet, green-eyed devil said...

We need a womanifesto.

7/16/16, 9:01 AM

My own personal womanifesto is that the person who designs beautiful high heels that feel like sneakers should not only win the Nobel Peace Prize but be proclaimed Ruler of the World.

Hagar said...

Personifesto, personifesto.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent said...

Truly bizarre. It reads exactly like the anti-Semitic assertions of the Third Reich. All hysteria, no evidence.

Fred Drinkwater said...

and from their manifesto, there it is again: "but these are abnormal times."
So easy to claim, so justifying.
What I see is projection. People who talk like that in politics do so because, if given the chance, they themselves would use the heavy levers of government to get their way. They believe their political opposition would also.
But, which party was it who said "We won"? Which president said, if Congress does not act then I will?
In my youth I once described the difference between our democracy and others (where violence accompanied voting) this way: "Here, your personal stakes in losing an election are small enough that, if you lose, you won't take to the hills with guns, or even feel much like you should."
It's the increase in the stakes of winning or losing that makes elections dangerous.

Rockport Conservative said...

This is much like the article in the Washington post today in with science writer Sarah Scoles cannot seem to believe the first woman astronaut is a (shudder) Repulican! Possibly even a conservative. How can that be?
What a closed mind. But I did enjoy the comments on that one.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2016/07/15/the-first-female-space-shuttle-commander-will-speak-at-the-gop-convention-huh/

Joe said...

Just wondering if these therapists are worried about psychological projection.

Also wonder if Hillary being a pathological liar and enabling of a rapist means anything to them.

Michael K said...

"science writer Sarah Scoles cannot seem to believe the first woman astronaut is a (shudder) Repulican! "

I imagine Peter Thiel is going to set off some migraines when he talks about Trump.

Marc in Eugene said...

Three or four of them here in Eugene-- not a surprise. Make sure not to miss reading the 'FAQ for Therapists'. I don't think they need to worry too much about the IRS investigating them.

"If you treat anxious or depressed Latino or Muslim clients who are frightened about Trumpism, is your job only to treat their symptoms or to also oppose public xenophobia? If you treat couples where men are influenced by a culture of double-down, admit-no-mistakes masculinity, is your work only with your own clients when hyper-masculinity is now being culturally celebrated?"

Clyde said...

Quack, quack!

rcocean said...

The liberal/Left never changes.

The American Psychiatric Association "diagnosed" Goldwater was "crazy" in 1

rcocean said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
richardsson said...

Most people in mental health are hardcore lefties, claiming special insights and original thinking about politics when its all just rehashed Trotskyism with a dash of John Dewey. And, they are nasty, nasty people if you point that out to them. Most people are attracted to the various mental health subjects because they themselves are a mess. When Trump first emerged, it immediately occurred to me who would hate him the most. Yup. It's also interesting to me how much some people on the right hate Trump as well. Of course, many on the right were once part of the Left. Whatever happens, it will not be a dull year like 2012.

rcocean said...

Meanwhile, a bunch of "Historians" also published a manifesto against Trump. The trouble is no one cared, not even Althouse.

Which as it should be. I've been reading history for 30 years, and the current bunch of History professors are biggest bunch of worthless, time wasting shits, ever, ever.

If you've see them on C-span or try to read their books, you have to assume they decided to become college professors because of the cute co-eds, the long vacations, and the left-wing politics. An actual desire to write or teach about actual y'know *History* doesn't seem to have been a factor.



Henry said...

Clearly a Committee of Public Safety is in order.

Michael K said...

"An actual desire to write or teach about actual y'know *History* doesn't seem to have been a factor. "

Donald Kagan or John Lukacs or VD Hansen are rare.

tim in vermont said...

Mr. and Mrs. Oscar Wilde once invited William Butler Yeats to their house in London. The story goes that Yeats, having just published a volume of Irish fairy tales, was asked by his hosts to tell their son one of them. “Once upon a time, there was a giant,” Yeats began. The terrified little boy fled the room screaming.

Saw that in the Wall Street Journal and had to think of this. "Is our propaganda disturbing your sleep? Come get some more!" - Liberalism

Drago said...

Is there anything more predictable than the left abusing psychiatry/psychoanalysis to falsely label their domestic political opponents as mentally deficient.

glenn said...

It's not just the so called historians

Robohobo said...

I find it amusing the #NeverTrump groups seem to beclown themselves at every step. They miss the point entirely and I think it is out of hubris or ignorance. Trump is not the creator of this movement he is just harnessing it. From ahem at American Digest some time ago:

Bull.
Trump supporters are just average Americans who are angrier than they can express. The critical presidential election is not this one, but the one back in 2012, where Romney got robbed---that was the one we had to win. We had a chance to stop the bleeding, and we lost it. Now the left has had four more years to nail the windows shut, and we are running out of air.
It's a white-hot anger: molten, incandescent---biblical. I'll bet most of them would pay to stand in line for an opportunity to hold Trump's jacket while he slaughters the establishment's sacred cows. Go ahead, destroy the Republican Party; it's rotten to the foundations. And set fire to the Democrats while you're at it. Tear the whole damned thing down, and start over.
Strike fear into these mothers' hearts. Make them groan. Make them wail and gnash their teeth and tear their clothes. Great. What can we do to help?
His supporters realize that Trump presents problems, but they don't give a damn. For years, the American public has been bled white, lied to, cheated, humiliated, manipulated, and kicked in the teeth. Over the last 30 years, their freedom, their laws, their rights, and their culture has been stolen from them. They're staring into a future in which their kids will be illiterate or second-class citizens or both, and may never be able to get a decent job, own their own home, enjoy any of the simple liberties we grew up with, or have a happy family.
And to top it off, they're filled with nightmares of their children and grandchildren reduced to eating the grass on the lawn, or being blown to bits while walking down the street.
Trump's campaign is where America is turning to clean house while clinging to vestiges of civilized behavior. It represents an opportunity for renewal on many levels. If it doesn't work, I fear America is in for much worse than it has already seen.
Posted by: ahem at February 23, 2016 8:51 PM


The eGoP created the very thing they are afraid of, the plain middle American, silent-majority citizen tired to death of being derided. Fox News tonight on "Takeover: The Trump Convention" showed a quote from the favorite baby, Ted Cruz, saying that Trump voters were 'low information', IOW dumb hicks. I voted for Ted for Senate but when I heard this one from him some time back I knew he was just another eGoP hack. See this:

http://theconservativetreehouse.com/2016/03/09/a-disconcerting-tripwire-what-carly-fiorina-endorsing-ted-cruz-really-means/

Ted isn't your "Rebel" he is pure establishment. Mrs. Cruz works for Goldman-Sachs and is on The Council On Foreign Relations, a NWO/Soros/One-World front group.

As usual most of the self-anointed elites get it backwards.

Will Cate said...

Every day Althouse moves closer to voting against Hillary and for Trump.

What makes you think she is necessarily going to vote for either of them?

Micha Elyi said...

"This is much like the article in the Washington post today in with science writer Sarah Scoles cannot seem to believe the first woman astronaut is a (shudder) Repulican!"--Rockport Conservative (1:23 PM)

Valentina Tereshkova is a Repulican? What does 'Repulican' mean in English?

Bill31 said...

Spell it "theRAPIST" when you refer to these folks. Watch them melt like lard on hot pavement.

Bill31 said...

Spell it "theRAPIST" when you refer to these folks. Watch them melt like lard on hot pavement.

Anonymous said...

Valentina Tereshkova is a Repulican?

Oh, a pedant. Well here is a little pedantry right back at you: Tereshkova was a cosmonaut, not an astronaut.

Bay Area Guy said...

Psychobabble 101A

Another reason not to waste money on therapists and/or vote for Trump

Martin said...

Back ca. 1971, in college, my roommate was a Psych major, as was his girlfriend. From knowing and observing them and their friends, I concluded that many people going into Psych (-ology, -iatry, therapists, etc) had pretty serious mental problems and were trying to figure themselves out; anything that led to a career was incidental.

A couple of decades later, I was friendly with some psychologists and a couple of psychiatrists and I asked them about this, in separate conversations over a period of a few years.

Every single one of them confirmed that a distressingly large portion of Psych majors were exactly as I thought. Not all, but either a majority or close, depending on the person I was talking to (who all went to different schools).

Many of those people did NOT go on to MD or MPsych or MSW degrees and therefore did not become practitioners, at least not licensed ones. BUT the pool from which people applied for MD and Master's programs was chock full of them, and my friends were of the general opinion that even after some winnowing out, and allowing that some of them found what they were looking for and had straightened themselves out, only a fool would take their own problems to a psychiatrist or psychologist without a strong personal referral from someone they trust, because a lot of them are STILL damaged goods and trying to work out their own problems, and their patients or clients suffer.

tim in vermont said...

Nuts/therapists criminals/cops. It's a theme!

Rusty said...

First world progressive problems.

mikee said...

Historians Against Trump (HAT) should amend their title to Historians Against Trump Extremism (HATE) to allow a clear and concise public understanding of the basis for their actions.