What a royal disaster! What does one do with this? I have thought about going into some sort of psychology or counseling work, but I'm afraid I would be quite the contrarian to this kind of training, potentially incurring significant pushback from professors and fellow students. Where does one get trained without all the indoctrination? It's just passing the indoctrination onto the patient. How is this helpful in the healing process? It looks to just make the patient angrier and feeling more oppressed when they might have been either of those things before.
Unfortunately right now there is no way around this, as it’s the professional standard and embedded into accreditation. Addressing the monopoly of CACREP (counseling) in state licensing standards would be one route to addressing it. We absolutely need contrarians, so don’t let this discourage you, but I do have to be honest that the capture is functionally total right now. But hopefully that will change. Thank you for reading and your comment!
This is a great piece, Katie, and articulates something that I've been thinking about for a long time (which I always appreciate as it helps me clarify my own process). The idea that a helping profession is given the power to impose what is the "correct" way to think on extremely complex issues, even if you agree wholeheartedly with that list (and many therapists probably do) is a hell of a worry. It's one step away from "if you don't think like us, you are not deserving of help". That's not the kind of practitioner I am interested in being.
To say nothing of the kinds of personalities who are drawn to seeking power within the structures of all professions, including psychotherapy.
Hi Skye, thank you so much for reading and offering a comment. It’s very concerning, and it’s worth noting that this imposition is also inherently activating, which can then be combined with various psychotherapeutic techniques to repeatedly deepen the client into the cult while they do (often increasingly radical) activism and “resistance” activities. As you noted, it also alienates a large number of people from the help they need. I’m grateful to hear that it was helpful to clarify some things and appreciate your time!
Good talk, thank you. Great that you, as a therapist, also understand the woke mind virus very well and what it leads to.
As for finding a good therapist, I wonder if it might be similar to how we can identify a woke person through his or her "profile" on X (formerly Twitter): you can usually spot some ideological markers. And that's *because* woke is so cult-like. It has so taken over their way of thinking, including their *requirement* to engage in activism/praxis, they can't control themselves to hide it. So, if you understand woke ideology well, the buzzwords they use (colonialism, oppression, equity, racism racism racism, sexism, etc-ism), imagery (e.g. when picturing people in publications, they obsessively avoid showing white males in a positive way, much less a masculine, strong, successful way) then maybe you can at least exclude a few. Or if someone is super short and vague about what they stand for, that too could be a red flag. I expect that someone who has his or her head on straight is going to want to let potential clients know they *aren't* woke somehow (explicitly or just implied).
A side note/suggestion: you deserve better quality lighting and video camera. Compare yours with Leslie's. Leslie has warm lighting (more towards the reds) yours is cold (blues). And Leslie's lighting is "soft," meaning it's coming from a wide light source. Your lighting appears to be coming mostly from the side, maybe through a window. And Leslie's camera has "bokeh." That's where the background is blurred out--a common technique used for portrait photography. If you can afford it you could hire a pro photographer or advanced amateur to set you up. If you faced those two windows that could provide softer and higher quality lighting, for free. I don't know how to get bokeh from a webcam. Maybe it just takes the right software, or maybe it takes a particular kind of webcam.
Thanks for watching and your comment. I agree, there are usually indicators in bios and things like that. I don’t necessarily signal that I’m “non-woke” as I believe it’s really the default position but the converse is often obvious from the language. Unfortunately, it’s often the most psychologically and materially vulnerable who are paired with the radicals through things like “QTBIPOC” therapy funds. I’ve seen such insane bios that I know only those who are truly vulnerable would engage with them, because everyone else would run for the hills. A dangerous dynamic.
And thank you for the feedback! If I start regularly doing podcasts and the like I will certainly look into trying to create a more professional set up, and appreciate the tips.
Thanks for writing about this, Katie. It's one of the most interesting, and troubling, things I've read for a while. Even if I'm not exactly surprised! Earlier I was listening to James Lindsay talking about this same imperative to revolution in the context of critical theory and social justice. What's on the surface of the box does not relate to what's inside it! Not at all, in fact. Like with the Islamist threat, we need to face up to the fact that there are people who want to completely overturn Western civilisation; who have, indeed, been working at this for a long time. It makes sense that therapists should be among them since the language of therapy is so often used in promoting these harmful ideas. It also helps explain the treatment of Jordan Peterson, of course! People look, not unreasonably, to therapy to bring healing and harmony. However, it seems all too clear that many of them have rather less peaceful purposes in mind.
“You’re uplifting these people and suppressing these other people without regard for the individuals varied experiences”
Spot on!!
I’m a child therapist with a social work background. I can’t remember how much woke ideology was in my program in 2019-2020 but I certainly hear other therapists talk about these things now. In my experience it’s usually white moms who bring up these topics in session expecting me to relate.
However, I attempt to be an ethical therapist so I don’t bring any of my real or imagined problems into someone else’s session.
One thing I can’t figure out is that we’re sold this story that white supremacy is a crisis situation. But where is the fire?? I’m looking around and I can’t find it.
I have a bachelor in psychology and masters in ACA counseling 2012, but never went into field, bc 2 months before graduation I realized counseling, as a field and moral approach, is 100% anti - science bc it submits to whatever the client brings and then emotionally reacts, to the clients. They never address morality even though the moral core mindset, values and principles, that an individual has, determines behavior and overall life morality and satisfaction more than anything else.
Mental health is irrational and immoral way to view social science. Unless the problem is biological related, like a tumor, then mental health is immoral approach.
Treating the internal social animal conscious ego/soul , as same as physical health is wrong, bc it creates a reactive and helpless mindset, as if it's out of the individuals control.
The internal conscious ego/soul is emotional energy and the metaphorically objective moral principles and overall mindset an individual uses to center base their core internal focus towards life on, determines whether they will “optimally integrate” or “anti-optimally integrate” their evolution based body ego and social conscious internal ego, with real objective reality, physics based ego. 3 egos. The more the person is correctly integrated them, the more MORALLY healthy they will be. The worse they integrate with reality ego physics moral code and/or go against evolution body and soul ego needs, the more MORALLY ILL they become.
Life for human nature is desire to max survive first, and then Max thrive, to best of our ability and ambition level.
The more optimally integrate you are with reality, the more efficient your survival body ego needs are problem solved, leaving more energy/time/etc. to thrive and max out your soul ego needs.
Morality is trying to increase integration with reality, by problem solving a physics, body, or social animal soul ego issue that humans face. Morality is finite. Cannot choose moral options that are physics impossible. Cannot choose moral options that do not exist. Human moral options are 3 choices---optimal, average/general, or anti-optimal. Only way to improve human Morality is to MORE optimally solve a problem humans face, but it has to be real and produced. Over time a moral option can move from optimal to general to anti-optimal.
Hi Adam, thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful comment. It’s definitely created a situation where you have to be at least an outer-level compliant cult member to even get into the field, alienating people in need while insulating from the outside world. That’s a very dangerous path. A lot of the most radical therapists also inevitably get paired with the most vulnerable populations who aren’t in the position to discern or even choose the kind of care they’re getting.
And I do get why a lot of this comes off as ‘posing,’ especially for the more milquetoast “sorority girl at a BLM rally” type thing. However, I will say that I’ve spent enough time around true radicals in the profession to know that some of them are very much serious about their participation in the global Communist revolution through their position. “Free Tigray,” for example, is a nod to the TPLF (versus the use of “Ethiopia”).
Anyway, greatly appreciate you taking the time to read and comment!
Absolutely, there is certainly a circular dynamic like that at play, and the vulnerabilities are quite complicated. Unfortunately a difficult situation to navigate.
What a royal disaster! What does one do with this? I have thought about going into some sort of psychology or counseling work, but I'm afraid I would be quite the contrarian to this kind of training, potentially incurring significant pushback from professors and fellow students. Where does one get trained without all the indoctrination? It's just passing the indoctrination onto the patient. How is this helpful in the healing process? It looks to just make the patient angrier and feeling more oppressed when they might have been either of those things before.
Unfortunately right now there is no way around this, as it’s the professional standard and embedded into accreditation. Addressing the monopoly of CACREP (counseling) in state licensing standards would be one route to addressing it. We absolutely need contrarians, so don’t let this discourage you, but I do have to be honest that the capture is functionally total right now. But hopefully that will change. Thank you for reading and your comment!
This is a great piece, Katie, and articulates something that I've been thinking about for a long time (which I always appreciate as it helps me clarify my own process). The idea that a helping profession is given the power to impose what is the "correct" way to think on extremely complex issues, even if you agree wholeheartedly with that list (and many therapists probably do) is a hell of a worry. It's one step away from "if you don't think like us, you are not deserving of help". That's not the kind of practitioner I am interested in being.
To say nothing of the kinds of personalities who are drawn to seeking power within the structures of all professions, including psychotherapy.
Hi Skye, thank you so much for reading and offering a comment. It’s very concerning, and it’s worth noting that this imposition is also inherently activating, which can then be combined with various psychotherapeutic techniques to repeatedly deepen the client into the cult while they do (often increasingly radical) activism and “resistance” activities. As you noted, it also alienates a large number of people from the help they need. I’m grateful to hear that it was helpful to clarify some things and appreciate your time!
Good talk, thank you. Great that you, as a therapist, also understand the woke mind virus very well and what it leads to.
As for finding a good therapist, I wonder if it might be similar to how we can identify a woke person through his or her "profile" on X (formerly Twitter): you can usually spot some ideological markers. And that's *because* woke is so cult-like. It has so taken over their way of thinking, including their *requirement* to engage in activism/praxis, they can't control themselves to hide it. So, if you understand woke ideology well, the buzzwords they use (colonialism, oppression, equity, racism racism racism, sexism, etc-ism), imagery (e.g. when picturing people in publications, they obsessively avoid showing white males in a positive way, much less a masculine, strong, successful way) then maybe you can at least exclude a few. Or if someone is super short and vague about what they stand for, that too could be a red flag. I expect that someone who has his or her head on straight is going to want to let potential clients know they *aren't* woke somehow (explicitly or just implied).
A side note/suggestion: you deserve better quality lighting and video camera. Compare yours with Leslie's. Leslie has warm lighting (more towards the reds) yours is cold (blues). And Leslie's lighting is "soft," meaning it's coming from a wide light source. Your lighting appears to be coming mostly from the side, maybe through a window. And Leslie's camera has "bokeh." That's where the background is blurred out--a common technique used for portrait photography. If you can afford it you could hire a pro photographer or advanced amateur to set you up. If you faced those two windows that could provide softer and higher quality lighting, for free. I don't know how to get bokeh from a webcam. Maybe it just takes the right software, or maybe it takes a particular kind of webcam.
Thanks for watching and your comment. I agree, there are usually indicators in bios and things like that. I don’t necessarily signal that I’m “non-woke” as I believe it’s really the default position but the converse is often obvious from the language. Unfortunately, it’s often the most psychologically and materially vulnerable who are paired with the radicals through things like “QTBIPOC” therapy funds. I’ve seen such insane bios that I know only those who are truly vulnerable would engage with them, because everyone else would run for the hills. A dangerous dynamic.
And thank you for the feedback! If I start regularly doing podcasts and the like I will certainly look into trying to create a more professional set up, and appreciate the tips.
Thanks for writing about this, Katie. It's one of the most interesting, and troubling, things I've read for a while. Even if I'm not exactly surprised! Earlier I was listening to James Lindsay talking about this same imperative to revolution in the context of critical theory and social justice. What's on the surface of the box does not relate to what's inside it! Not at all, in fact. Like with the Islamist threat, we need to face up to the fact that there are people who want to completely overturn Western civilisation; who have, indeed, been working at this for a long time. It makes sense that therapists should be among them since the language of therapy is so often used in promoting these harmful ideas. It also helps explain the treatment of Jordan Peterson, of course! People look, not unreasonably, to therapy to bring healing and harmony. However, it seems all too clear that many of them have rather less peaceful purposes in mind.
Thank you for your reading! I completely agree, it’s deceptive and, imo, quite evil.
“You’re uplifting these people and suppressing these other people without regard for the individuals varied experiences”
Spot on!!
I’m a child therapist with a social work background. I can’t remember how much woke ideology was in my program in 2019-2020 but I certainly hear other therapists talk about these things now. In my experience it’s usually white moms who bring up these topics in session expecting me to relate.
However, I attempt to be an ethical therapist so I don’t bring any of my real or imagined problems into someone else’s session.
One thing I can’t figure out is that we’re sold this story that white supremacy is a crisis situation. But where is the fire?? I’m looking around and I can’t find it.
You may find this interesting: https://kups.ku.edu/faculty-research
Thank you! Will check it out.
Individual rights moral concept came from Europe.
The only alternative to individual rights, is slavery (in some form).
https://open.substack.com/pub/douglasj/p/american-counseling-association-is?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6980s
I have a bachelor in psychology and masters in ACA counseling 2012, but never went into field, bc 2 months before graduation I realized counseling, as a field and moral approach, is 100% anti - science bc it submits to whatever the client brings and then emotionally reacts, to the clients. They never address morality even though the moral core mindset, values and principles, that an individual has, determines behavior and overall life morality and satisfaction more than anything else.
https://open.substack.com/pub/douglasj/p/dr-douglasson-a-homeschool-phd-in?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=6980s
Mental health is irrational and immoral way to view social science. Unless the problem is biological related, like a tumor, then mental health is immoral approach.
Treating the internal social animal conscious ego/soul , as same as physical health is wrong, bc it creates a reactive and helpless mindset, as if it's out of the individuals control.
The internal conscious ego/soul is emotional energy and the metaphorically objective moral principles and overall mindset an individual uses to center base their core internal focus towards life on, determines whether they will “optimally integrate” or “anti-optimally integrate” their evolution based body ego and social conscious internal ego, with real objective reality, physics based ego. 3 egos. The more the person is correctly integrated them, the more MORALLY healthy they will be. The worse they integrate with reality ego physics moral code and/or go against evolution body and soul ego needs, the more MORALLY ILL they become.
Life for human nature is desire to max survive first, and then Max thrive, to best of our ability and ambition level.
The more optimally integrate you are with reality, the more efficient your survival body ego needs are problem solved, leaving more energy/time/etc. to thrive and max out your soul ego needs.
Morality is trying to increase integration with reality, by problem solving a physics, body, or social animal soul ego issue that humans face. Morality is finite. Cannot choose moral options that are physics impossible. Cannot choose moral options that do not exist. Human moral options are 3 choices---optimal, average/general, or anti-optimal. Only way to improve human Morality is to MORE optimally solve a problem humans face, but it has to be real and produced. Over time a moral option can move from optimal to general to anti-optimal.
Hi Adam, thank you so much for your kind words and thoughtful comment. It’s definitely created a situation where you have to be at least an outer-level compliant cult member to even get into the field, alienating people in need while insulating from the outside world. That’s a very dangerous path. A lot of the most radical therapists also inevitably get paired with the most vulnerable populations who aren’t in the position to discern or even choose the kind of care they’re getting.
And I do get why a lot of this comes off as ‘posing,’ especially for the more milquetoast “sorority girl at a BLM rally” type thing. However, I will say that I’ve spent enough time around true radicals in the profession to know that some of them are very much serious about their participation in the global Communist revolution through their position. “Free Tigray,” for example, is a nod to the TPLF (versus the use of “Ethiopia”).
Anyway, greatly appreciate you taking the time to read and comment!
Absolutely, there is certainly a circular dynamic like that at play, and the vulnerabilities are quite complicated. Unfortunately a difficult situation to navigate.