2004-10-06 - 10:52 a.m. If I were the cartooning type, I'd draw a droll little sketch of a guy at a bar, stoop-shouldered, sad-hatted, complaining to the bartender, who is patiently wiping the bar with a rag, "My therapist doesn't understand me." I have always been deeply ambivalent about "the talking cure," and now that I'm seeing an actual shrink, my opinion still wavers. In light of all this, I am enjoying a book called The Instinct to Heal, which maintains that there are all kinds of great therapies that don't involve drugs or long-term yakkin' at all: acupuncture, meditation (yes!), heart coherence (which is a lot like Tibetan heart yoga), regular exercise, and some nutritional supplements. And most of all, connection with community. One could argue that psychotherapy can work alongside all the above, that one need not eschew it in favor of them. But I contend that the best session of therapy doesn't even come close to the benefits of a mediocre yoga class. And since therapy costs about ten times as much, it makes good (dollars-n-)sense. So, readers, I ask you: psychotherapy, yea or nay? thoughts? (16 comments so far) previous - next blog archive contact