This has nothing to do with general employment and you explicitly state as much. The basic concept of the OP, desite his oopsy title, is rather inarguable. If you disagree on some basic life principles then you’re probably not a good therapist-patient match.
Funny how free-speech absolutism shrivels and shrinks when it’s your ox being gored, isn’t it?
For the 110th time, supporting Trump is not an “ideological difference.” Supporting Romney or Rubio, that could be called an ideological difference. Hell, even Cruz.
Supporting Trump is a whole other thing.
I didn’t say that such speech should be prohibited now did I? I don’t think it’s taboo, ‘tired’, or unethical to debate any issue. I think it’s immoral and cowardly to silence speech.
That said, the actual acts that result from acting on an idea can be quite horrific. Notice I said justify violence. When folks are actually physically assaulted merely over a difference of what now has become tribal ideological differences we have crossed a line. Physical assault is not a legitimate consequencing for uttering a few syllables.
And… uh… who in this thread has suggested physically assaulting anyone? Please phrase your answer without resorting to “what you’re basically saying is”, because nobody is “basically” saying any such thing.
Some people have demonstrated through their choices that they don’t deserve the time of day from me. There’s no way you can construe that as a prelude to widespread pogroms and persecution, except to those who feel deeply entitled to other people’s attention and patronage.
You were remarking that I was opposed to someone’s speech and I was clarifying I was opposed to actual actions. And yes irrational dehumanizing language of one’s political opponents, while perfectly legal, can be the genesis of violence.
You realize religion is a choice? You realize that if a significant number of people choose to boycott, demonize, or ostracize people who choose a particular belief system that real dangers can occur? That’s why I said this is a parallel to the language of religious intolerance.
That said, I don’t care who you choose as a therapist, what club you join, who you’d bake a cake for, or how you spend your money.
I understand you’re using overblown intimations of violence to condemn someone’s choice of speech and association, and I notice it only tends to emerge in specific situations depending on how you feel about that choice of speech and association. That’s all.
I’ve had similar experiences - I’m more of a deist, but I do know that the solution to my problems is not to “let Jesus into my life.” So that therapist was a one and done. But I’ve gone through a lot of therapists - you need to find one that works for you and you need to be able to trust them - and ANYTHING could be the factor that doesn’t. If you would be betrayed when you see your therapist leaving the building and heading to a car with Trump bumper stickers after four months of hard work - that isn’t good.
IMHO, it is important for a therapist to be able to challenge a patients’ pre-conceived notions and provide different perspective. If the therapist is just going to be a mirror-image carbon copy of the patient, the patient wouldn’t get much except simply an echo of his or her thoughts, which is an expensive way to spend $80 an hour.
That being said, I am not sure what a Trump-supporting therapist could tell me - that I haven’t heard before - or that would be beneficial.
Thank you. My breaking point came when the therapist mused that an angry wasp who showed up one night and drove me off the sofa and – finally – back into the bed I’d shared with my husband, was my husband. In wasp form. Giving me “permission” to sleep in our bed alone. Like I needed “permission.”
Me, I just blamed it on not having checked a load of firewood carefully enough before bringing it inside. I didn’t want to spend the night wondering where the angry wasp was.
True, but the different perspective that the therapist is supposed to provide is about the way the mind works, the relationship between emotional and cognitive responses, etc. The knowledge that a therapist has about these technical matters, and their ability to understand what a patient is thinking and feeling and how to communicate their thoughts to the patient, doesn’t require the therapist to have different beliefs from the patient on, say, religion or politics.
Somebody who basically agrees with you on major large-scale political, social, religious and cultural issues can still have very different insights from you about your specific cognitive and emotional problems. And that type of insight is presumably what you’re paying a therapist for.
Yes, a therapist who disagrees with you about major large-scale political, social, religious and cultural issues can also be capable of providing useful insights about your specific cognitive and emotional problems. But the insight is separate from the ideological differences.
And as some posters here have attested, severe ideological differences between patient and therapist can make it harder for them to find an effective channel of communication about the specific problems.
You know that the ‘intimations’ of violence are actually real? People are assaulted merely because of apparel or political point of view. This isn’t made up. It’s due, in part, because of an irrational or evil demand for ideological purity that is coming mostly from the left.
Why am I not talking about the other side? Because the other side barely exists here.
Finally, you have to be able to separate the very different concepts of supporting expression while disagreeing with a particular form of expression or worrying about the ramifications of enacting the ideals of said expression. I’m for communists being able to speak. I’m definitely against what they speak about and their tendency to commit genocides.
As I’ve noted elsewhere,
Welcome to the Dope, @LisaRobert!
Looks like LisaRobert wasn’t so welcome here after all.
She was an interesting spammer. Included links to stupid stuff, but also sorta discussed the topic
But, looking back on my report, I noticed that the “discussion” was very disconnected, like it was just coming up with sentences based on keywords. I’ve encountered bots that duplicate parts of the thread, but not those that Google the words in the OP.
Sure, you should ask if it concerns you. And it might be a helpful red flag to the therapist.
I participate in a single parent/modern family group through my work. I’m a man, but the group is mostly women. The group Zoom meetings do verge into therapy type stuff from time to time.
When people bring forward their problems, they… have different ideas, different approaches than I do! I wouldn’t always do what they do! Sometimes I rethink my owns views and modify them a bit, sometimes I don’t.
I absolutely do NOT want to know any political views of anyone that comes in and out of the group. At all. There is more than enough fodder and need for this type of group, and politics are frankly not relevant. If someone else wants to “vet” the groups so everyone has the same political views, it is going to ruin the group, and I am going to hate it.
I am absolutely more along the lines of “don’t talk about politics and religion.” Ex in laws were mostly Republican. Not why I’m divorced. But when I talk to people who are Republican, any different view, it’s like a political light goes on and people change their personalities completely once you go into those conversations. When those conversations DON’T happen, we can find our common humanity. Which is what I want. Because honestly, crap like the divorce is thousands of times more impactful than politics has ever been to my life. Maybe someday politics will be the huge game changer, maybe all of this vetting and sorting that some people want to do will lead to paradise. I don’t think that will happen, but you do you.
I wouldn’t consider it a red flag any more than asking if I have expertise with a technique, experience with particular presenting issues, familiarity with a diverse population, my religion, or my billing practices. I might not answer, but the question is not a red flag. /psychotherapist
I’m sure they do, but that’s not therapy, and the dynamic is nothing like the relationship between therapist and client.
It’s already been said, in many ways above, but people are traumatized. They have a right to process that trauma with someone who doesn’t think it’s “fake news.”