I have had debilitating depression for many years, and have had many therapies, none of which has done any good at all.
But recently I had Intense Dynamic Pyschotherapy. It is probably too early to say whether it will be a lasting success, but I haven’t felt so good for years. The therapy really is intense, and I was fortunate to have a therapist who was gently persistent and who forced me to face up to the causes of my depression, and how to deal with them.
And I am very fortunate to live in England and to have all my treatments paid for by the NHS.
Life is, for the first time in a very long time, looking good. If you haven’t had depression, you probably wouldn’t be able to understand what an extraordinary statement that is.
My evening meal - chicken Kiev, jacket potato and broccoli in a cheese sauce - was great, and I’ve had a couple of delicious slices of fruit loaf for breakfast, so all is good.
Freud, who instigated Intense Dynamic Pyschotherapy, believed that parents are the cause of all that ails you. My parents treated me badly in various ways when I was young, which has created self esteem and confidence issues, which, in turn, has led to depression. Intense Dynamic Pyschotherapy forces you to face up to those issues, to not to blame yourself for them and to not allow yourself to be belittled by them. It takes persistence and compassion by the psychotherapist to drive the message home.
I have been very lucky that the person in charge of psychotherapy at my local mental health foundation recognised my problems and allocated the right psychotherapist for me.
Freud was completely full of shit and his followers are not exactly well-regarded by people who practice actual science.
But hey, whatever works, right? If you’re feeling better, more power to you. I’d be interested in hearing more about the process and what you’ve worked through.
Cite? Because I had the therapy - which worked - recommended by professionals in the UK National Health Service, who, I suspect, would not have recommended it if it was ‘full of shit’. I have looked it up on the web and I haven’t found any suggestion that it is ‘full of shit’.
What ‘actual science’ are you referring to, and how are you qualified to judge?
Well, the idea of the exact role of the parents is debated but the main point is, do the exercises help? I think probably, abusive parents have great impact, but the problem is Freud used it as the whole model of personality instead of restricting it to the really bad situations.
(I wonder sometimes, what would children do if they didn’t have their parents to blame? Not that there aren’t bad parents; Or bad children for that matter.)
All jokes aside, glad you’re feeling better. Stay well.
It makes sense to me personally. Over the years, and in many different settings and different jobs and among different classes of people the one thing I would say more than others that effects a person’s baseline mood seems to be how they were treated as a child.
This isn’t to say that their are no other factors involved, but from what I’ve seen, interaction with the parents is the major one. I would say a very big difference among people are those who were loved unconditionally by their parents and those who were not. I think a lot of people never experience anything like unconditional love or caring and those that have almost live in a different world emotionally than those who have not. But I’m not a psychologist or anything like that so it’s not an observation I could defend - just an observation I’ve had over the years.
I’m not saying that my parents were the only debilitating factor. I went through that peculiarly British rite of passage of being wrenched away from my home at the age of seven to go to a boarding school . Our day started at 7am with a run around the school grounds dressed only in our underpants in all weathers: snow, rain, the lot. This was followed by a cold shower. The food was mainly gristle and gruel. I am not making this up.
I got expelled in 1967 for smoking dope, and fell into the summer of love.
Are boarding school folks more depressed than average? I did not go to boarding school, it sounds rather miserable though - reminds me of The Wall. Just wondering.
I can’t speak for anyone else. I know a lot of people had a good time at other schools. Mine was a peculiarly bad one. My expulsion kicked up an ants’ nest. It was discovered that half the senior school was smoking dope. We were becoming quite psychedelic. Shortly after I left half the school was burnt down.
The Wall seems very apposite. As does the Lindsay Anderson’s 1968 film If… Particularly the end sequence where the abused boys slaughter the establishment. Metaphorically. I think. That film has lived in my head and heart for the rest of my life.