I've been strongly considering going back to school and studying to become a therapist. However, between reflecting on my own harmful experiences with therapists in the past, and the lit I've read on the field's systematic problems in terms of race, class, captialism; the moral issues with the power imbalance; and a worry that therapy doesn't actually help anyone in a meaningful way—I'm not so sure I want to pursue it. Are my concerns legitimate? How do therapists navigate them?
For starters, let me just say that I'm not trying to be insensitive to anyone within the field of therapy or clinical psych, and if I say something that’s hurtful or ignorant, my apologies. Most of this question is probably linked to uncertainty and a little anxiety since I don't know much about the experience of being a therapist and it feels very unknown and foreign, hence the question on askmefi.
That out of the way, some context: I'm in my early 20's, and I feel like I have a calling to be a therapist; that it's something that I'd love to do as a career. I've always been infinitely fascinated by the human mind and how it works; and how the past, trauma, the body, environment affect it; and I really love the concept of spending my time assisting others in meaningful, tangible ways that help them deeply understand themselves better and supports them in making their daily lives more livable. I'm aware it has its intense challenges of boundaries, responsibility, insurance, burnout, barriers to entrance, compassion fatigue, etc, but that hasn't deterred me so far—I felt like I could probably handle it, or learn to.
The thing that's deterring me now, though, is that I'm filled with doubt around the actual...Usefulness of therapy, and a fear that maybe I'd be doing more harm than good. I know that therapy is not for everyone, and I've also lived firsthand how horrible it feels to have a crappy therapist—to have the mental health care system fail you so catastrophically when you're already in distress can be traumatic, and the idea of potentially doing that to someone else is awful to me. I finally found a good, non-harmful therapist but it took years, and the damage of the therapists before her still lingers. The idea of perpetuating and upholding a system that does that to people, well. Feels pretty unethical, pretty bad, though rationally I know situations of harm are not always the case.
Otherwise, a lot of my doubt is stemming from concerns around participating in a system that's inherently racist, classist, and rooted in capitalism (even though everything is, I know)—am I perpetuating and reinforcing a paternalistic medical system that has violently hurt marginalized people? Is it not better to stay out of it and go into a career that is less problematic, or more helpful to vulnerable people in other ways? Does a career that's less problematic even exist? (Cue existential crisis of living in a nightmare of capitalism and inherent harm.)
I'm also worried about the inherent power imbalance: therapist/patient, “expert”/vulnerable person. The ethical ickiness of being in a position of power over someone like that, the potentially paternatlistic feeling—I don't know. I don't like it, though I'm assuming (?) there's ways to mitigate it a little, though I imagine it can't be erased entirely.
There's also general concerns around the actual effectiveness of therapy in all its forms—is it actually helpful to get this type of care when we live in such a crushing, traumatizing society daily? In the middle of a climate collapse? Is it helping anyone to visit a therapist weekly even though they're stuck in a terrible job, or have unstable housing, or are trapped in an abusive environment? Would I actually help, or would I just gaslight my clients into tolerating something that shouldn't be happening at all? Is that ethical? Is it enough? (No, obviously, they need more support beyond therapy, but I wouldn't be able to provide that, so... What's the point? What would I be doing to help them?)
To summarize: I truly, seriously want to pursue being a therapist but I'm concerned about perpetuating a harmful system, playing into a bad power imbalance, and not being effective in actually helping others. Are these concerns legitimate? Is there a way to keep them in mind and still pursue a career in clinical therapy, or should I study something else that's more tangibally helpful? How do other therapists balance social justice concerns and their profession? Sorry if this ask is all over the place; I hope it's not too many questions. Any insights are welcome.
Is it possible to virtue-signal oneself to death? If we monitor the individual who posted this question we might find out....
there doesn't seem to be anything here