Maybe it's because I had a bad experience with a therapist who spoke to me very firmly when I said something negative about Landmark, in Landmark's defense. There was other stuff very off with her that I'd rather not get into, but it was confirmed by a colleague.

I have a good relationship with my current therapist. However, it got off to a very rocky start, because I was in a "soft cult" at the time. I had zero desire to convert her to another religion, but she was in fear that that's what I was trying to do. It was very odd. At the time, I was merely sharing with her what I was very passionate about and what helped me.

But I sit here now wondering why the heck the therapists I saw before her did not come out and say, "Allalong, I think you are in a soft-cult, and we need to discuss that immediately." Wouldn't that be something a good licensed therapist would've realized and brought up?

My current therapist is good and although I am no longer in the "soft cult" (it only met 2 out of 3 of the 3 criteria, but it had a profound effect on me nonetheless), there's some stuff that I'm confused about. I thought if you had a license, you weren't allowed to suggest anything non scientific? I started to do yoga on her suggestion, and at the time I was enjoying the yoga type workshops that I now see in hindsight were cultish.

She has another patient who loves doing energy work like Reiki and stuff, and when she mentions it to me about all the fantastic workshops she goes on and how much benefit she gets out of it, I don't like it. I didn't even like it when she said that she has a patient who dresses all bohemian-like, because I'm not interested in talking about anything that reminds me of my cultish-group.

I said something clearly one day that that stuff did not interest me. I do not like that when I asked her for suggestions that her other clients find useful, she brought up weird non scientific new agey crap.

I like to smell lavender if I feel anxious, but I'm not interested in getting all into aromatherapy, etc. When did therapy become new-agey? Or am I just sensitive to it, because of my experience?

I am just feeling rather confused at what I can do that would help me to get the benefits that I used to get when I did just regular basic Hatha yoga many years ago. Savasana was the most meditation I used to do and that was good enough.

Sorry to hear of your encounters with incompatible therapists.

Licensing is usually based on having a graduate degree such as M.A., M.S.W., or Ph.D., together with 1-2 years experience. They don't look at the school of thought your therapist belongs to.

The one you describe made some new-agey suggestions. Suggesting behaviors is one school of thought. The behaviors the therapist comes up with will necessarily come out of the therapist's worldview.

Are you looking for a purely nondirective therapist in the tradition of Carl Rogers?

sig Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sorry to hear of your encounters with incompatible
> therapists.
>
> Licensing is usually based on having a graduate
> degree such as M.A., M.S.W., or Ph.D., together
> with 1-2 years experience. They don't look at the
> school of thought your therapist belongs to.
>
> The one you describe made some new-agey
> suggestions. Suggesting behaviors is one school of
> thought. The behaviors the therapist comes up with
> will necessarily come out of the therapist's
> worldview.
>
> Are you looking for a purely nondirective
> therapist in the tradition of Carl Rogers?


Thanks, Sig. She's a psychologist and doesn't appear new-agey. That's what is surprising about all this. We're supposed to be doing CBT and mindfulness. Nothing builds week to week, though. She said I was getting too OCD with the handouts she gave me in the beginning, so she stopped. It's frustrating. I want the type of therapy that builds, and the type of therapist who won't just sit there and let me talk and figure out stuff on my own.

Also I think she completely missed the fact that my two soft/light cults (I don't know the correct term) that I was in, plus this yoga stuff I was doing, was not healthy. I personally thought maybe it was hypomania or something but someone else posted on another recent post of mine that doing these things in excess can cause a mild Serotonin Syndrome. That makes a lot of sense. And all the lack of motivation, etc. is connected to it.

Interested to hear your opinions, experience, and suggestions. Thanks.