I am glad I am not the only one who found that thread weird.
I was not necessarily advising counseling to you, just sharing the place it has occupied for me in my own life.
Absolutely true. Sadly back in the post wars eras… many Vet deaths were recorded as something other than the suicides that they were.
Once you graduate, that’s when reality will start to settle in. If you think the university has broken systems, wait until you get into the real world. The idealism of college will wear off quick.
Yes, heartbreaking, LS. I have learned so much from my FIL and the many vets that remain his close friends to this day. (He is 82 and vigorous) I have great love and respect for anyone who devotes his career to “the least of these.” We, as a nation, have much to learn about honoring those who fought to uphold the many rights and riches we enjoy.
All of my friends and family say that I am resilient now. I am not broken by this. I am just not pretending that everything is perfectly fine. And, just because others lower their standards, that does not mean we cannot expect and hold ourselves to higher standards. I understand that **** has always happened. But, that does not mean we should not try to make things better in any way we can. What my old man has taught me is, if you see something that is off or just not right, speak up, call someone, or write a letter.
I am not saying that we should not take advantage of what we have today. I am just saying that it is not necessarily necessary, exspecially for something minor.I was not necessarily advising counseling to you, just sharing the place it has occupied for me in my own life.
While I agree that times were tougher in my parents generation and they didn’t have counseling, I personally think great strides have been made in our understanding of the human psyche and our ability to help humans reduce stress, anxiety and confusion in their lives. I understand that social sciences seem “squishy” to many people. But there is real goodness available there as well. My FIL has spent much of his career counseling vets who suffer from PTSD. He has genuinely helped so many. Saints are found in all professions.
Our parents did not have the advantage of many things we have today. I don’t think that fact makes a good argument against us not availing ourselves of “new” things in order to live a more contented life.
Just my two pennies, of course. Sometimes it can even help to chat honestly with people on the internet. Our parents didn’t have that available to them either!
As a pre-med student you probably know how stress affects the body. Sometimes our physical symptoms are trying to tell us something important, so it is appropriate to ask. It behooves the school to keep you enrolled so they can keep collecting your tuition so having happy well adjusted students is a priority.
You really nailed that one. Psychotherapy is definitely pathology based. And yes, treatment requires a diagnosis or a label of somekind. Usually, for persons such as yourself, it would be something innocuous like “adjustment disorder” meaning your are having a hard time.
That seems very bizarre.
That sound like a liability issue. But I don’t think it applies to you, since it sounds like you are doing plenty.
On the contrary, encouraging use of psych services is the best way of addressing them! Stress during finals is common, and being overhwelmed triggers desperation.
I suspect both things are true.
It is good that you are thinking about these things, because if you go into medicine, you will find that there are a great many requirements laid on providers for safety reasons.
And really, I cannot help but think there is a lot of BS in the way psychology is used these days. It is one thing to see someone if you are seeing things that are not there or are too scared to leave your house, it is another to denounce someone as “unbalanced” for having a different opinion or wishing one with a lot of points and edges to there personality to become a blunt object.
I agree, but it is also not necessary to wait until someone is psychotic to offer support. If people get counseing and adjustment they don’t have to get any worse. Think about it. If you have not gone in for your sore throat, and just let it go until you ended up with strep or bronchitis, how is that beneficial?
redbetta:
Certainly there are excesses in every field. How will you know if there are deeper issues to address? Won’t they first show up as small symptoms?
Is if fair to complain that psychology seeks to address deeper issues, but also complain that people are screening for them?
A good idea. I hope you consider commiting yourself to it.
Yes, but what is the likelyhood that the university is going to change, as a system? Stop having finals? It is more likely that the students need to survive, become professors and administrators, and make changes.
Sometimes it is a real challenge to balance the needs of them members of a community.
This is not a bad thing, but you will come to find that we live in a society that contains a good amount of this kind of authority. How we survive in it is part of how our character must grow.
Um, I guess I wasn’t clear, but, when I say someone tries to put a bandage over a deeper issue, I main using a bandage to address something that needs stiches. You know, superficially covering something up instead of dealing with it. I guess a better analogy would have been to paint over something.As a pre-med student you probably know how stress affects the body. Sometimes our physical symptoms are trying to tell us something important, so it is appropriate to ask. It behooves the school to keep you enrolled so they can keep collecting your tuition so having happy well adjusted students is a priority.
You really nailed that one. Psychotherapy is definitely pathology based. And yes, treatment requires a diagnosis or a label of somekind. Usually, for persons such as yourself, it would be something innocuous like “adjustment disorder” meaning your are having a hard time.
That seems very bizarre.
That sound like a liability issue. But I don’t think it applies to you, since it sounds like you are doing plenty.
On the contrary, encouraging use of psych services is the best way of addressing them! Stress during finals is common, and being overhwelmed triggers desperation.
I suspect both things are true.
It is good that you are thinking about these things, because if you go into medicine, you will find that there are a great many requirements laid on providers for safety reasons.
redbetta;13648029:
I agree, but it is also not necessary to wait until someone is psychotic to offer support. If people get counseing and adjustment they don’t have to get any worse. Think about it. If you have not gone in for your sore throat, and just let it go until you ended up with strep or bronchitis, how is that beneficial?
Certainly there are excesses in every field. How will you know if there are deeper issues to address? Won’t they first show up as small symptoms?
Is if fair to complain that psychology seeks to address deeper issues, but also complain that people are screening for them?
A good idea. I hope you consider commiting yourself to it.
Yes, but what is the likelyhood that the university is going to change, as a system? Stop having finals? It is more likely that the students need to survive, become professors and administrators, and make changes.
Sometimes it is a real challenge to balance the needs of them members of a community.
This is not a bad thing, but you will come to find that we live in a society that contains a good amount of this kind of authority. How we survive in it is part of how our character must grow.
A married person just can’t be friends with members of the opposite sex in exactly the same way that they did when they were single. For one thing, they don’t have the same kind of time, so “hanging out” with persons of the opposite sex alone would be a sort of “stealing” from their spouse and children. Also, it is often very helpful for mothers to develop strong friendships with other mothers when they are raising small children.
Right.
Why do you think it is inappropriate for a doctor to be concerned about a patient’s psychological welfare?
This is a good response. And nice info, as always.
Thanks!
You don’t sound depressed to me. On the other hand, if one is not somewhat dismayed at sick systems they are not really seeing the problem, so you may experience some dysphoria that does not belong to you personally.
It sounds like you have a calling toward making systemic changes.
Or do both!
Do you believe that is true?
The rejecting the gift thread was strange. I would not call it creepy, but the main point of the OP (original poster) seemed bent to me. What seemed even more bent is the stubborn unwillingness to accept any other point of view. But, as threads go on the Philosophy forum, that was mild. I usually don’t even go there because I find too much philosphy impractical and non-productive.
Like the doc in the university medical clinic isn’t the place to advise counseling? You seem to think that counseling should be advised only in cases of severe mental illness. On the contrary, most people that seek counseling are just going through normal life transitions, and want to talk to a neutral party to help themselves sort through the changes.
Times have changed a great deal. We used to have extended families, and it was easy to visit/talk to another family member when you were having trouble with your immediate ones. We used to have supportive communities where one might talk to a neighbor. We have lost a lot of this supportive culture, and people become much more isolated. Sometimes it is safer and more comfortable to talk to someone outside of the problem, and whose privacy you can trust. I would love to go back to the days of Mayberry, but it is not going to happen.
Well, except that the OP is talking about a setting where professional relationships with members of both sexes is de rigueur. In the sciences, it is hardly possible to screen your study groups by gender. It is simply not done. Of course she’s going to have male friends. If she becomes a physician, her spouse is going to have to be able to cope with that. That’s just a fact of life.
If you are going to be a physician, you had better get used to screening for clinical depression and referring patients who need further evaluation. That will be your* job*. You don’t get to say, “Oh, I’m an orthopedist, I think it would be invasive to refer the patient who seems as if she might have a tumor for an oncology work up, I think it is too snoopy to ask if she might be pregnant before I send her for X-rays, let alone to ask her how she got those injuries that are indicative of domestic abuse.”
You, like all the students seen at the clinic, are free to decline the recommendation.
Sounds pretty defensive. One has to wonder why such a high degree of defensiveness is necessary. One almost tends to think that the question may have hit closer to the mark than wanted.
