Re: High Hat (Was other things)
On Jun 19, 2007, at 12:13 PM, Carl Remick wrote:
I think that middle ground, like much in psychotherapy, is imaginary.
In any event, to the extent talking-therapy works at all I think
it’s because psychoanalysis secularizes the highly effective psycho- purgative practices that were pioneered and refined by the Catholic
Church as confession and absolution. People can get a great sense
of relief simply from voicing their greatest fears, frustrations
and regrets to another human being. Moreover, I suspect the
Catholic Church in its heyday provided more effective psychic-pain
relief than psychoanalysis ever has, since the former, it is said,
can deliver divine forgiveness while the latter can only offer
clinical certification that you’re not insane.The trouble is, you have to believe in the authority of the
priest/analyst for this practice to have any anodyne qualities at
all. If you entertain any suspicions the RC church or
psychoanalysis is hooey, the magic will not work. Tinker Bell,
alas, dies.The alternative to seeking help from hierarchic relationships with
priests and shrinks is to rely on the humble time-honored practice
of confiding in friends or partners
No, it’s completely different from that. You can tell a shrink things
you can’t tell a friend or partner - esp if your problem is with your
friend or partner. And the emotional dynamics are completely
different. The distance allows you to project all kinds of things
onto the therapist, and analyzing the kinds of things you project can
be very revealing.
Have you ever seen a shrink for any length of time? The experience,
even when it’s as infrequent as once a week, is incredibly powerful.
It changes the way you think and feel and live your daily life.
Spilled religion has nothing to do with it.
Doug