>> Not so much "people in THIS group think THIS!" as "I have heard some people from THIS group say THIS and cite THIS as their reasoning." <<
It's a good approach.
>> If someone I counseled (if I was a counselor) insisted that she did not have X problem but I had seen other cases of X problem affecting the problem she DOES claim to have, I don't think I would automatically take her word for it, but at the same time it wouldn't be constructive to just say "nope, we have to treat you for X problem because you represent a series of dots I'm connecting, not a person." <<
When someone has a problem they want to work on, that's the place to start unless some other issue is causing an emergency. It's important for both parties to be aware that life issues interweave with each other, so starting in one place may lead you somewhere quite different. But it's rarely helpful to go haring off into the underbrush after something that isn't causing misery when something else is. It's challenging enough to figure out what's going on in someone's life, without leaping to conclusions. (I've done my share of helping people deal with issues, mostly spiritual and magical issues, but also general life stuff. Being a spiritual leader is a lot like being a grease trap.)
>>But I think being a therapist is SO much more about listening and considering perspective than most people realize.<<
Agreed. It's also important to match the style to the person's needs. Different types of therapy are better at addressing different problems, or work better for different personalities. And almost nobody puts any effort into pointing that out or helping people figure out who to go to.
>> Many people who need therapy have all the tools to help themselves if they just have someone to bounce it off of.<<
They do if they're lucky enough to have a semi-functional life background. Some people have whole swaths of skills missing, which they have to acquire from scratch. One of the important steps is checking to see what people know and can do vs. what they haven't learned or learned wrong that needs to be added or replaced. But it is helpful to find things that people can do for themselves, so they can take an active part in problem-solving. *sigh* If you can get them to do the work, that is.
>>Though he also seemed to think that I could get an MRI which would "conclude whether I was asexual or not" based on WHETHER MY BRAIN SCANNED AS FEMALE. What.<<
Re: Yes...
It's a good approach.
>> If someone I counseled (if I was a counselor) insisted that she did not have X problem but I had seen other cases of X problem affecting the problem she DOES claim to have, I don't think I would automatically take her word for it, but at the same time it wouldn't be constructive to just say "nope, we have to treat you for X problem because you represent a series of dots I'm connecting, not a person." <<
When someone has a problem they want to work on, that's the place to start unless some other issue is causing an emergency. It's important for both parties to be aware that life issues interweave with each other, so starting in one place may lead you somewhere quite different. But it's rarely helpful to go haring off into the underbrush after something that isn't causing misery when something else is. It's challenging enough to figure out what's going on in someone's life, without leaping to conclusions. (I've done my share of helping people deal with issues, mostly spiritual and magical issues, but also general life stuff. Being a spiritual leader is a lot like being a grease trap.)
>>But I think being a therapist is SO much more about listening and considering perspective than most people realize.<<
Agreed. It's also important to match the style to the person's needs. Different types of therapy are better at addressing different problems, or work better for different personalities. And almost nobody puts any effort into pointing that out or helping people figure out who to go to.
>> Many people who need therapy have all the tools to help themselves if they just have someone to bounce it off of.<<
They do if they're lucky enough to have a semi-functional life background. Some people have whole swaths of skills missing, which they have to acquire from scratch. One of the important steps is checking to see what people know and can do vs. what they haven't learned or learned wrong that needs to be added or replaced. But it is helpful to find things that people can do for themselves, so they can take an active part in problem-solving. *sigh* If you can get them to do the work, that is.
>>Though he also seemed to think that I could get an MRI which would "conclude whether I was asexual or not" based on WHETHER MY BRAIN SCANNED AS FEMALE. What.<<
Science FAIL. Exit stage left!