Do you actually believe in psychiatry and psychotherapy?

I’ve gotta say, it feels like psychotherapy is becoming a bit of a lost cause lately. For most people dealing with mental health issues, the real heavy lifting is done by prescription meds, the slow passage of time, and just venting to your buddies over a beer. Psychiatrists aren't cheap, and once you get those pills, you might actually have enough left over to grab a coffee with a neighbor—which, honestly, feels more like actual therapy. Nowadays, everyone and their mother is trying to play therapist; you've got psychologists, social workers, school counselors, even philosophers (I think they do that kind of thing in Italy too)
So what’s the point of having psychiatrists at all? It seems like they’ve become these ultimate authorities who get invited onto every news network the second something happens, acting like they have an answer for everything. They’re basically the modern-day "fortune tellers" of the Western world😁People go to them for advice, and at this rate, we’ll probably be sitting around smoking pipes with them to find inner peace🙂 Or maybe hookahs👍
The whole thing gets especially ridiculous when they start talking about PTSD. We all know that the vast majority of cases come from car accidents, assaults, and similar traumas—probably around 80% of patients—but they still love to drone on about veterans as if they’re the only ones suffering from it. It reminds me of how, back in the day, the government used to toss anyone who dared to criticize the administration into mental wards under the guise of being "insane"😠
Do you guys actually trust them?

It can certainly help, but at the end of the day, everything really comes down to the individual—it’s all on them. We all end up playing our own amateur psychiatrist from time to time, whether we like it or not.

I mean, it makes sense to see them as the experts here. If you had a broken leg, you wouldn't be heading to an orthopedic surgeon, right? Hopefully you get that besides all the chemical stuff—you know, synapses, neuroreceptors, neurons, blah blah blah... there’s also this whole other side that people call the mind, the soul, or the psyche. And that can be broken down even further. It just follows that one part gets treated chemically, while the other part needs a different approach. It's kind of like how a computer works with hardware and software; you can't have one without the other. You can't just swap out your graphics card and expect Windows to start running better, nor can you try fixing Windows by hoping a modem that got fried by lightning will just fix itself. You feel me?

Plus, psychiatrists are the only ones on your list who actually fit the bill. All those other doctors deal with how people behave or how they interact with the world around them, but a psychiatrist is the only one who's basically a master of both the hardware and the software.

Psychiatrists think they've got it all figured out, don't they?👎

Just like most people, especially when it comes to their own field of expertise.
Lawyers. It’s always lawyers. It doesn't matter what else we're talking about; the conversation eventually drifts back to them. I have a lawyer in my family, and let me tell you—whenever they all get together in one room, it's a nightmare. 😲 )

Look, you can't just chalk up the way most people think to some sort of psychological quirk or mental instability. At the end of the day, they're just regular people. They aren't some different species. 😁

To answer the question: I honestly believe both psychologists and psychiatrists can be of help to some people. But let’s be real—most of the time, they’re just fumbling around in the dark. You can't exactly lay the blame at their feet, though. Even after decades of rigorous study and research, we've barely scratched the surface of what makes us tick. Humans are complicated creatures; we're like intricate, unpredictable plants. 😉

Psychotherapy is definitely 👍

I’ll take therapy over medication any day of the week. Meds just tend to mask what's actually going on—they basically sweep the issues under the rug (though, I guess, in specific cases like schizophrenia, there might not be any other way out)

A psychotherapist isn't some kind of savior coming to pull you out of a hole; they're more like a steady hand that a patient often needs just so they can pull THEMSELVES out 🙂

tinitrus said:I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starting to get this nagging feeling that psychotherapy is becoming kind of a lost cause lately, like we're all just spinning our wheels! It honestly feels like for most people struggling with mental health issues, the real heavy lifting is being done by prescription meds, just letting time pass, and leaning on your buddies to vent to when everything is falling apart.

Sometimes you're stuck in this total limbo where meds just aren't cutting it—either they’re way too much to handle or they simply don't do a damn thing for you—and then there's the whole issue of time, which either feels like it's moving way too slow or we just straight-up don't have enough of it to spare! And let's be real, sometimes you don't even have a close friend to lean on when things get heavy. So, what the heck are you actually supposed to do when everything hits the fan at once?!
Look, I’m telling you, it’s not that psychotherapy itself is some kind of dead end or a total waste of time—it’s just that we’re dealing with some seriously subpar, low-quality therapy out there! Honestly, it’s all about those undertrained and undereducated therapists who clearly didn't put in the work to actually get their credentials straight. It’s not the practice that’s broken, it’s just that some people out there aren't nearly qualified enough to be doing this job properly!
Honestly, I’d take a licensed psychotherapist over a friend any day of the week! At least a therapist actually went to school and knows what they're doing, whereas friends? Man, sometimes they can honestly mess things up way more than if they had just stayed out of it entirely!

Honestly, it’s kind of wild how much the whole psychotherapy scene has opened up lately! It feels like everyone and their mother is getting involved in it now—I mean, you’ve got psychologists, licensed social workers, educators, and even philosophers jumping into the mix! I was just thinking about how widespread this is, like, even over in Italy or something, where the professional lines seem to get all blurred and everyone is trying their hand at mental health support. It’s definitely a bit of a crowded field these days, isn't it?

I mean, let’s be real, almost everyone has a little bit of that therapist energy buried inside them, you know? Like, we all give advice and try to help our friends through their drama, even if most people aren't actually out there practicing professionally. But honestly, you just can't put psychologists on the same level as educators or social workers. It's just a totally different ballgame!
Honestly, let’s be real here—it doesn't matter how prestigious or top-tier a psychotherapy school is, there is absolutely zero chance they’re gonna open their doors to a philosopher. It's just not happening!

If that's the case, then what's even the point of sending psychiatrists to med school?

I mean, look, psychiatrists are literally there to fix a broken brain, right? We’re talking about actual chemical imbalances or maybe some weird physical growth messing everything up, which is exactly why people start acting out or perceiving things totally differently than everyone else. So, like, how is medicine even supposed to help with that? I mean, they’re basically digging around inside people's heads and messing with their neurons—if anyone actually needs medical intervention, it’s definitely them!

And honestly, it feels like psychiatrists these days are suddenly experts on absolutely everything, right?! It’s like every time something happens in the news, they’re immediately summoned to some TV studio to give their "professional" take, and they swear they have a deep, psychological explanation for literally every single thing that goes down!

Ugh, you already know exactly how this plays out! It’s always the same old routine where some reporter from a major network like CNN calls him up, and would he be down to sit for an interview? Of course he is! This guy lives for the spotlight and basically treats every interview as a chance to run a massive self-promotion campaign. He’ll just breeze through a quick summary of the topic, rattle off a list of his latest books, and then spend the rest of the segment acting like he’s the smartest person in the room. It's honestly such a predictable circus!
You know how it goes—they’ll go out of their way to track down some actual expert who spends every waking hour working in that exact field just to get the real scoop!

So, I gotta ask you guys—do you actually trust them? Honestly, I’m sitting here scratching my head wondering if anyone else feels this way, because I am seriously on the fence!

Honestly? Not really. If I had to count on one hand—and I’m being generous here—I could probably name maybe two psychiatrists out of the whole lot that I actually trust. You know, the kind of people where I wouldn't mind handing over my entire brain to them or even trusting them to prescribe a medication without feeling like I'm playing Russian roulette with my own neurons!
😁