The psychologist as shepherd of the flock: therapy and workplace discipline

The therapy that teaches you to accept the flock: 'I'm a slave rower and I no longer care'

There is a sentence that sums up the malaise of an era: 'little by little I'm accepting that I'm a slave rower and that this world is one big piece of shit, and honestly I no longer care.' It was written by someone who goes to therapy and finds that the advice, time and again, is 'focus on the positive.' It is not an isolated case. It is the pattern running through a discussion of nearly a hundred replies about what a psychologist actually does when a patient tells them their working life is a sentence.

The conclusion that emerges from much of the material is uncomfortable: some argue that clinical psychology works as a tool for adapting to the productive system, not for personal transformation. The goal would not be to heal, but to bring back into the flock anyone who steps out of line. And those who don't come back willingly, well, you know how that goes.

Bringing back into the flock anyone who asks certain questions

The most repeated diagnosis is that the psychologist acts as a mind cop. 'It's psychologists' job. To bring back into the flock those who ask certain questions,' claims one participant, who adds a warning: 'if you don't come back soon they'll drug you to force you back.' The accusation is harsh, but it sums up the general feeling: therapy does not seek to make the patient understand their distress, but to manage it without causing trouble.

Along the same lines, another message describes the system as a factory of conformity: 'the flock saves you from thinking, ergo it cures you.' The phrase, almost textbook, condenses the suspicion that the well-being being pursued is that of the environment, not the patient's. And some go further: 'they want people mentally ed up forever, they don't seek to cure.'

The reproach does not stop at the individual consultation. It extends to childhood. The disorders and syndromes diagnosed in children would, according to this reading, respond to a very specific prototype: 'the good boy who sits still for eight hours, motionless and silent, listening to the teacher's explanations with eyes wide as saucers.' Anything outside that gets a label.

Psychology as ideology, not as science

The epistemological critique is the second front. 'Psychology is not science, it's shitty ideology in the service of the Regime,' declares one message that piles up support. The argument is developed more calmly in another contribution: psychology would not be a science because the scientific method is inapplicable to its object, and all it does is use 'statistics, protocols and other broad-brush tools.'

The counterattack to that objection is just as forceful: 'measuring nerve impulses doesn't miccionan psychology is a science.' The comparison thrown out is that of painting: knowing how long it takes to paint a room doesn't make painting a science. The debate drifts into epistemology and into the name dropping of authors who, it is said, 'said an awful lot of nonsense about the psychological question.'

Some argue that therapy does work, but only for the obvious. 'With even a moderately normal intelligence you can see where they're trying to lead you the whole time,' says someone who went through consultation. Their psychologist didn't push an ideology on them, they say, but repeated the profession's catechism: assertiveness, controlling what you can't control and 'your mental health comes first, even before your children's lives.'

The business: 50 euros a session and a rate that pays

The third axis is economic. Therapy is a paid service, and that is not forgotten. 'That'll be fifty euros,' replies one message sardonically, imitating the professional's tone. Another quips about the bill: 'ask them why, if they want to help you, they charge you so much. Also ask if they'll refund your money if they don't cure you.'

The accusation of mercantilism comes down to a figure: 'the whore's rate pays, we know that.' The comparison with the oldest profession is no accident. Several messages claim that a sens worker provides 'more help and quicker benefit' than therapy, and that 'even when it comes to advice, hookers know more.' The argument, more provocative than analytical, points to an underlying idea: paying to be listened to is no different from paying for any other service, and the payer expects results.

The suspicion that the patient is just another customer is reinforced by the idea that professional secrecy is worthless. 'Can you imagine telling a psychologist your real, deeper problems? The bitch would be cracking up inside,' one reads. Confidentiality, in this reading, cannot withstand group gossip.

The alternative: books, the countryside and not going

Against the couch, home remedies. 'Good books help you better than a psychologist or psychiatrist,' one message asserts. Another appeals to common sense: 'accepting reality is a step toward fitting into the group and, since we are group animals, only that way can you be happy.' Happiness, here, means accepting society's flaws and enjoying its virtues, not fighting them.

The most nuanced critique comes from someone who distinguishes two types of patient: 'the mentally weak, who don't bother looking for answers on their own,' and 'those who live steeped in an environment full of emotional illiterates, people who can't even speak plainly to their relatives, partner or friends.' For the latter, the consultation would be a refuge, not a business.

And then there is the one calling for prudence. 'Listen to your psychologist and not to the yokels hanging around this forum,' advises a message that reminds readers that here 'most of the messages we write are half serious, half joking.' The warning is sensible: each person's mental health depends on decisions nobody else knows about.

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With all this, the predictable outcome is that therapy will keep growing as a sector and that the criticism won't even tickle it. The distress that drives people into consultation doesn't disappear; it gets managed. And meanwhile, the patient learns to call 'positive' what they used to call unjust. Whether that is being cured or being trained is a debate that won't be settled in a fifty-euro consultation.