but his risk aversion might extend to fear of losing social capital and being embarassed. If thats the case telling him to go make more friends and tell them about his problems seems to miss the point.
Certainly. I didn’t get the impression that that was the case from his comment, but perhaps it is.
therapy often involves getting people to be happier by having them behave more rationally.
My main beef with therapy is that it’s ineffective at this. (Not in all cases, but more likely in the case of LW members.) It’s certainly a noble goal.
I don’t think I have to endorse Freudian psychoanalysis in order to think that talking to an experienced stranger about your problems might be helpful in ways that talking to friends wouldn’t be.
I think you’re saying here that you don’t have to endorse any particular methodology in order to think etc. I agree with the conditional, but I somewhat disagree with the consequent.
My main beef with therapy is that it’s ineffective at this. (Not in all cases, but more likely in the case of LW members.) It’s certainly a noble goal.
I more or less agree with this. I was smarter than my therapist too but it was still helpful for three reasons. First, it forced me to recite my motives, reasons and feelings out loud which made me more conscious of them so that I could actually analyze and evaluate them. Second, the questions she asked prompted new thoughts that I wouldn’t have had. Even if the premise of her questions was silly (she wasn’t a Freudian but had a tendency to bring up my mother at inopportune times) it still brought forth helpful thoughts. Third, while she was behind me in IQ she had enough experience and knowledge of patterns of behavior to call me on my bullshit. In my experience (and as I understand it, in studies) intelligent people are especially good at rationalizing away behavior and channeling emotional reactions in weird, unhelpful directions.
Anyway thats what I got out of it. Eventually I think I reached a point of diminishing returns on it (once I could recognize patterns in my behavior paying money to have someone else do it did seem useless). I still have a problem of putting my conclusions about my own unhealthy, irrational behavior to good use, but that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing anyone will be able to help me with.
You’re definitely right that therapy is overall too ineffective- which is why I think it could benefit from the insights of this site. I actually think I could get a fair amount out of therapy with an extreme rationalist- and reading your blog it seems like your problem with therapists is that they’re not enough like your average less wrong poster.
Hmm. Maybe I was born unusually introspective, because my therapists never deepened my analysis or called me on bullshit. My experience may be more atypical than I thought.
In my experience (and as I understand it, in studies) intelligent people are especially good at rationalizing away behavior and channeling emotional reactions in weird, unhelpful directions.
I haven’t heard of those studies. I’d be interested in any references you have. I’m familiar with the correlation between intelligence and kookiness, but this sounds a bit different, though probably related.
your problem with therapists is that they’re not enough like your average less wrong poster.
Heh. Well, sort of. That and, maybe, that I’m just not cut out for therapy.
Certainly. I didn’t get the impression that that was the case from his comment, but perhaps it is.
My main beef with therapy is that it’s ineffective at this. (Not in all cases, but more likely in the case of LW members.) It’s certainly a noble goal.
I think you’re saying here that you don’t have to endorse any particular methodology in order to think etc. I agree with the conditional, but I somewhat disagree with the consequent.
I write about my personal experience with therapy on my blog, which certainly informs my writings here.
I more or less agree with this. I was smarter than my therapist too but it was still helpful for three reasons. First, it forced me to recite my motives, reasons and feelings out loud which made me more conscious of them so that I could actually analyze and evaluate them. Second, the questions she asked prompted new thoughts that I wouldn’t have had. Even if the premise of her questions was silly (she wasn’t a Freudian but had a tendency to bring up my mother at inopportune times) it still brought forth helpful thoughts. Third, while she was behind me in IQ she had enough experience and knowledge of patterns of behavior to call me on my bullshit. In my experience (and as I understand it, in studies) intelligent people are especially good at rationalizing away behavior and channeling emotional reactions in weird, unhelpful directions.
Anyway thats what I got out of it. Eventually I think I reached a point of diminishing returns on it (once I could recognize patterns in my behavior paying money to have someone else do it did seem useless). I still have a problem of putting my conclusions about my own unhealthy, irrational behavior to good use, but that doesn’t seem like the kind of thing anyone will be able to help me with.
You’re definitely right that therapy is overall too ineffective- which is why I think it could benefit from the insights of this site. I actually think I could get a fair amount out of therapy with an extreme rationalist- and reading your blog it seems like your problem with therapists is that they’re not enough like your average less wrong poster.
Hmm. Maybe I was born unusually introspective, because my therapists never deepened my analysis or called me on bullshit. My experience may be more atypical than I thought.
I haven’t heard of those studies. I’d be interested in any references you have. I’m familiar with the correlation between intelligence and kookiness, but this sounds a bit different, though probably related.
Heh. Well, sort of. That and, maybe, that I’m just not cut out for therapy.