Spinning One’s Wheels

The paradox of talk therapy: releasing it versus rubbing it in?

Mike Hickman’s thought-provoking memoir speaks to the perils (for him) of talk therapy.

Mike’s cautionary tale resonates. Been there, done that (still do on occasion).

A sympathetic ear can be seductive. Notwithstanding that the aim of therapy is to instill productive self-awareness, frequent sessions with a nurturing professional can serve to reinforce one’s immersion in the role of dysfunctional patient.

My sister — tormented by eating disorders, depression, anxiety, and OCD for 50-plus years — indulges weekly in ruminating over her sundry miseries, thus further entrenching herself in the identity of a self-loathing hopeless mental case.

Her demoralizing state of existence inspired my fictional tale of alternate histories, where the point of divergence hinges on whether one rejects the dysfunctional label versus chooses to don the mantle of professional psychiatric patient.