In most other professions with a competency bell curve you can match the top people to the hardest problems, median people with the median problems, and the worst ones with the simplest prob,ems. That’s kinda hard to arrange with therapy. Even harder than with physical care.
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Everyone I’ve talked to who’s gone to therapy talks about painfully shopping around to find a fit. Most matches don’t work. I suspect many give up after a few misfits or settle for someone who does more harm than good. Or goes to the staff therapist because workplace forces it.
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I strongly suspect for many demographics, alternatives like a pastor or mentor work better on average at least for mild-medium needs. The money factor is finessed, there is more goodwill, and more humility on the part of the counterparty in recognizing the limits of helping.
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Big and important point
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Replying to @vgr
especially for non-whites. the harm and futility in both frameworks and cultural fluency is well documented
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I have low confidence in my anecdotal observation of lower rate/variety of nerddom among women. Whatever difference there might be is likely accounted for by lower leisure time due to higher housework/childcare/eldercare loads. Controlling for leisure, rate/variety is likely same twitter.com/NeuralBricolag
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Consulting/exec coaching is therapy adjacent. One of my firm beliefs is that nobody can do both well. So for a client my fit test is “are your personal issues covered enough through either therapy or jackass nerd interests that we can focus externally on management/leadership?”
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Interestingy, from my experiences helping junior individual contributor types (usually as a favor since they can’t afford to pay my rates) their psychological issues are more complex, not less. And typical blue collar types make me go “I’m not touching that with a 10 ft pole”
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In fact a selection pressure working for leadership roles is “are your issues simple enough to compartmentalize and solve with $?”
Average mental health issues work are too complex to fix, at an acceptable price, so end up as attrition forces.
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This is counterintuitive because famous leaders often exhibit almost cartoonish mental health issues, but this is in fact a tell. Their issues are simple enough to caricature into archetypes like “entrepreneur with chip on shoulder and adoption trauma” and manage effectively
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Replying to
this made me think: maybe certain neuroses are fungible? (but the vast majority are not)
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