A few days ago, I received this from a client who was tryinig to figure out how they felt about it:

My first thought was, what sort of horrible therapist did this person have? Why would a therapist willingly encourage a client to stay stuck? I suppose a cynical person would say for the money. I don’t know. This job is hard enough. What gets me motivated and passionate about the work is the changes I see in my clients.

This post feels like yet another attempt at discrediting the whole idea of mental health treatment. First our degrees were deemed “not professional.” Then ChatGPT offers to replace counselors completely. Now we are being accused of harm instead of help. What would motivate this?

When I see a person make a connection or gain insight, I feel honored to be there. It is a privilege to sit with someone as they process their trauma or admit how it has impacted them. There is no navel gazing in my sessions and we do not avoid anything.

I don’t have the source of the above comment so I cannot refute the author directly. I do have many questions for them, though. And let me just say that my clients are some of the bravest people I know. So actually, I think they only thing I want to say to the author is this. “Fuck off!”

Not productive, I know. To dare to call the people who do the hard work of healing “cowards” is offensive and ridiculous. Trashing therapy is cowardice. Do the work, my friend. Maybe then you won’t be so cynical about the incredible experience that therapy can be.