I have
developed a mild addiction to alcohol, and have a severe case of Attention
Deficit Disorder (not hyperactive). I went to see a psychotherapist and she
assured me that 7 hours of therapy would cure me. After about 4 months of
therapy, and really throwing everything into it, there is less control over
the drinking than ever before.
Her reasoning is that no antidepressant or other drug or any behavioral therapy
would help, as both ADD and alcoholism are acquired conditions.
I really believed in what we were doing and had a positive attitude.
But: I have a huge problem with the process of almost “brainwashing”
me into believing that certain things happened to me as an unborn and during
the birth—I am not stupid; those things simply didn’t happen. What
is very real, though, is 1) the fact that ADD people are genetically predisposed
to have lower levels of dopamine, adrenaline and sometimes other
neurotransmitters in the brain than other people, which also probably predisposes
them to addictions; and 2) that the constant negative feedback received
throughout my life as a result of being ADD, has left me with a feelings
of worthlessness; and 3) I have very real behavioral problems.
The therapist did not know anything about ADD—I had to take her reading
material. . . .
I feel as if I have wasted a lot of time, energy and money on therapy. I
do not believe in the process, unless she is not practicing it correctly.
Should I continue?
From what you say, your so-called “therapist”
doesn’t seem to be practicing much of anything correctly—not even
brainwashing!
First of all,
no competent psychotherapist can ever promise anyone that a certain number
of sessions will be a “cure” for anything. Because psychotherapy
depends so much on the client-psychotherapist
relationship and on client motivation, a
psychotherapist can speak only in generalities at best: “It’s possible
that . . . ” or “It might happen
that . . . ” or “No one knows for sure,
but . . . ”
As for the
“brainwashing,” common sense and anecdotal evidence tell us that
prenatal experiences can definitely have an effect on infant development,
but it is simply impossible to reconstruct prenatal experiences with
psychotherapy. In genuine psychotherapy, you must come to terms with your
emotional and behavioral life of the present. If constructing an
“hypothesis” about prenatal and birth traumas helps you accomplish
the psychotherapeutic work, fine. But if not, you should not have such ideas
forced on you by anyone, and especially not by a psychotherapist.
Third, if your
psychotherapist knew nothing about ADD, then she had the ethical obligation
to have said so, upfront. Then you would have had the opportunity to find
someone else, or to continue working with her on an “experimental”
basis. There really is nothing wrong with experimenting in psychotherapy,
as long as the client agrees to it.
Finally, everything
is an “acquired condition”—more or less—but different
persons need different interventions in different circumstances. It can be
possible to get to the core of alcoholism with
psychodynamic psychotherapy, but maybe you might
need cognitive-behavioral treatment with a
psychologist who specializes in treating addictions.
So it seems that
you have wasted a lot of time, energy and money on this so-called
“therapy.” Should you continue? Well, ask the question like this:
Should you have terminated at the end of the seventh hour after you were
“cured”?
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
 |
|
|
|
Huh?
Freewill website?
his is a
FREEWILL WEBSITE with NO
ADVERTISING. If you find this page to be informative and helpful,
please send a freewill donation, even if it’s only a few dollars, to
help offset my costs in making this website available, without charge or
advertising, to you and to all.
