I bring an ACAB because ACAB means that even “good cops” will lie to protect bad cops, and they will certainly not call out other cops or report them. Though therapy is regulated, it operates in much the same manner. Therapists are interdependent and to call out another therapist would have professional ramifications.
It’s not as BAD a situation as ACAB, but at the very least therapists have been SOCIALIZED to shut the fuck up, or they have to get through 2 years of higher ed, and 2 years of practicum to get their license, years were they entirely dependent on the good graces of other social workers
And it’s funny you should bring up firefighters. Fightfighting houses notoriously would START fires so they could put them out and get paid. It was only when municipalities started hiring permanent full time fire departments that the arson stopped. Therapists still have financial pressures.
You say licensing boards are there to meet a “minimum standard of quality.” But what I just said that it does NOTHING for quality, just limits the amount of outright abuse (usually sexual). That is to say, a therapist can absolutely ruin the lives of every single one of the clients, but as long as they don’t sleep with them or use them to clean their houses, they will never run into a problem at a licensing board. And I invited you to see for yourself.
I don’t trust therapists for my own personal reasons, but I’ve laid a pretty systemic comprehensive case that therapy as a profession is extremely flawed (elsewhere in this thread): people are trained to learn facts and be experts in a way that can definitely hurt their work with clients while at the same time enhancing their prestige among other therapists. Meanwhile, the licensure system does nothing to set a floor for therapeautic quality or effective care. Meanwhile, bad therapists are out there ruining people lives, potentially even UNAWARE that they are doing it all without any repercussions from the profession.
Again, not that you can’t find a good therapist out there or that it’s not helpful, but as a profession that are several ways it’s not the same as, say, being a cardiologist.
I bring an ACAB because ACAB means that even “good cops” will lie to protect bad cops, and they will certainly not call out other cops or report them. Though therapy is regulated, it operates in much the same manner. Therapists are interdependent and to call out another therapist would have professional ramifications.
It’s not as BAD a situation as ACAB, but at the very least therapists have been SOCIALIZED to shut the fuck up, or they have to get through 2 years of higher ed, and 2 years of practicum to get their license, years were they entirely dependent on the good graces of other social workers
And it’s funny you should bring up firefighters. Fightfighting houses notoriously would START fires so they could put them out and get paid. It was only when municipalities started hiring permanent full time fire departments that the arson stopped. Therapists still have financial pressures.
You say licensing boards are there to meet a “minimum standard of quality.” But what I just said that it does NOTHING for quality, just limits the amount of outright abuse (usually sexual). That is to say, a therapist can absolutely ruin the lives of every single one of the clients, but as long as they don’t sleep with them or use them to clean their houses, they will never run into a problem at a licensing board. And I invited you to see for yourself.
I don’t trust therapists for my own personal reasons, but I’ve laid a pretty systemic comprehensive case that therapy as a profession is extremely flawed (elsewhere in this thread): people are trained to learn facts and be experts in a way that can definitely hurt their work with clients while at the same time enhancing their prestige among other therapists. Meanwhile, the licensure system does nothing to set a floor for therapeautic quality or effective care. Meanwhile, bad therapists are out there ruining people lives, potentially even UNAWARE that they are doing it all without any repercussions from the profession.
Again, not that you can’t find a good therapist out there or that it’s not helpful, but as a profession that are several ways it’s not the same as, say, being a cardiologist.