Finding an Objectivist therapist?

[Melissa2010B]

I live in the Denver area and have had problems with depression for years. I've also been seeing a therapist, for several years for it.

I started out as a 60's liberal and during the time since around 1993 when the depression started, have had time to think about things more. I gradually shifted my thinking over the 90's and finally thought of myself as a full fledged Objectivist a couple of years ago.

But this therapist that I've been seeing for quite awhile, appears to be a solid "progressive" and I've been getting pretty sick of hearing those lines of thinking, in someone who's supposed to be helping me.

But is it even possible to find a therapist who's an Objectivist in a city like Denver?

[bluecherry]

Hmm, do you think the bad ideas the therapist has are getting in the way of helping you or are they just an annoyance? If you really think bad ideas are hindering helping you, it may be time to find a new therapist indeed. I don't know if you could find an Objectivist therapist, since there seems to be EXTREMELY few of them from all I've heard, but you may still be able to find one anyway that doesn't have the problems this therapist has for you. Here's a page by one Oist psychologist on some suggestions on how to help you make sure you get a good psychologist for what you need: link I hope that may help some. I'm currently in the process of looking for a psychologist to go to myself and it has been feeling like a real shot in the dark I'm going to have to take because it is so darn hard to find much of any information about these people ahead of time, or even that they exist and where. Right now I'm just trying to call people on a list of psychologists our insurance covers in the area to see some of the most basic information about them, like if they are even taking new patients right now. X_x;

[noumenalself]

Ellen Kenner, who is an Objectivist therapist, recommends finding a certified cognitive therapist:

http://www.drkenner.com/how2choose.htm

Cognitive therapy is the very successful modern approach to therapy which approximates most closely the Objectivist approach to the emotions: the view that our emotions are products of our thinking, and that we can solve emotional problems by solving thinking problems:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_therapy

Kenner links to the Academy of Cognitive Therapy web site, which includes a searchable database of locally certified therapists:

http://is.gd/6qvFy

If you search by Colorado, there is one listed in Denver, one in Castle Rock, and one in Boulder. I don't know anything about these individuals so please don't take this as a recommendation. There are many other therapists who follow a cognitive-based approach who are not necessarily certified through this particular academy. I don't know if Kenner thinks that only those so certified are reliable.

To your health!

[~Sophia~]

But is it even possible to find a therapist who's an Objectivist in a city like Denver?

Dr. Scott Adams lives in Denver.

[email protected]

[Amaroq]

Isn't a therapist someone you pay to basically do the introspecting for you?

I've been to a therapist before when I was a kid, because me and my sisters had a pretty bad sibling rivalry going on almost-constantly. The guy basically asked us dumb questions, like "Why do you fight?", "Why do you think she's stupid?", etc. Basically getting us to think about it and realize we really had no reason to act the way we were towards each other. The guy actually did fix our problem somehow, just by asking those questions. But I think that a rational person armed with introspection (and smart Oist friends for the toughies) can probably solve their own problems for cheaper.

[bluecherry]

That was a child psychologist. I think you can rest assured that people here, if we haven't been able to figure stuff out yet, have more complicated issues than just not realizing we have no reason to do what we're doing. ;P