Like, I’ve had several therapists/psychologists/psychiatrists/counselors throughout my life who either seemed disinterested or flat out unfit to deal with people like me, and I don’t even think I’m the worst case scenario (who knows, maybe I am?).
What’s their main demographic, who do they even help? Yuppies, professionals, people in manager positions who already have had successful professional, social, and dating lives?
They’re already too expensive for most of the population, they seem to be absolutely oblivious to the problems of most men of color or trans folks or most gay folks, they can’t help early career young people, definitely not working class people, like what the fuck are they good for? And can people just shut the fuck about ‘just go to therapy, honey’, ‘men will do anything but go to therapy’ like fuck off. I went to therapy, and holy shit yeap, the world still sucks and society is still extremely hostile to me.
Oh I can change my reaction to things? to live in delusion is almost what they seem to be prescribing and nah, I’d rather just save the 100 dollars per session and spend it on 2 months supply of fucking OxyContin.
And motherfucker, if you’re a psychiatrist, and I’m here for adderall or anxiolitics or fucking laxatives, you had better fucking give it to me. I didn’t fucking pay 150 to prescribe me children’s medication or to be lectured about the importance of therapy.
My therapist of four years resigned during the pandemic. She was really good, she had some of her shit together but I think she was mostly able to put on a mask for her job - which was a queer oriented service up here in seattle that dealt with people from all walks, it was work she probably liked, and she is the only good therapist i’ve ever had. My last session with her she rolled her eyes at that - she felt her colleagues were on her level and actually defended them - and I see what she said, but nah, nobody has fought like she did, nobody keyed in and got me to think about my own shit like she did - nobody could even pretend to give a quarter of the shit she did.
The last few sessions she seemed to be genuinely cracking, like that professional mask came down and it was apparent she was just a human being with her own private disasters and stuff - I don’t wanna share her life but I realized that like, good therapists are kinda sacrificing themselves to do it i think - eventually you burn out from that kind of give-a-fuck if the strain is too high.
Covid broke a lot of people. As for burnout, It can help for a therapist to work for an organization—really the only way to help people other than pmc’s who “have their shit together” like the op describes—where they can eventually step into a role of mentoring other therapists. Otherwise, it can become too much.