I have
developed a mild addiction to alcohol, and have a severe case of Attention
Deficit Disorder (not hyperactive). I went to see a psychotherapist and she
assured me that 7 hours of therapy would cure me. After about 4 months of
therapy, and really throwing everything into it, there is less control over
the drinking than ever before.
Her reasoning is that no antidepressant or other drug or any behavioral therapy
would help, as both ADD and alcoholism are acquired conditions.
I really believed in what we were doing and had a positive attitude.
But: I have a huge problem with the process of almost “brainwashing”
me into believing that certain things happened to me as an unborn and during
the birth—I am not stupid; those things simply didn’t happen. What
is very real, though, is 1) the fact that ADD people are genetically predisposed
to have lower levels of dopamine, adrenaline and sometimes other
neurotransmitters in the brain than other people, which also probably predisposes
them to addictions; and 2) that the constant negative feedback received
throughout my life as a result of being ADD, has left me with a feelings
of worthlessness; and 3) I have very real behavioral problems.
The therapist did not know anything about ADD—I had to take reading
material to her.
I feel as if I have wasted a lot of time, energy and money on therapy. I
do not believe in the process, unless she is not practicing it correctly.
Should I continue?
First of all,
no competent psychotherapist can ever promise anyone that a certain number
of sessions will be a “cure” for anything. Because psychotherapy
depends so much on the client-psychotherapist
relationship and
on client motivation, a psychotherapist can speak only in generalities at
best: “It’s possible that . . . ” or “It
might happen that . . . ” or “No one knows
for sure, but . . . ”
As for the
“brainwashing,” common sense and anecdotal evidence tell us that prenatal
experiences can definitely have an effect on infant development. You may
not be able to remember such things occurring to you, but it’s important to
not reject the possibility outright. Although in competent psychotherapy you
must come to terms with your emotional and behavioral life in the present,
constructing an “hypothesis” about prenatal and birth traumas might help you
accomplish the psychotherapeutic work. Still, you should not have such ideas
forced on you by anyone, and especially not by a psychotherapist.
Third, if your
psychotherapist lacked experience in treating ADD, then she had the ethical
obligation to have said so, upfront. Then you would have had the opportunity to find
someone else, or to continue working with her on an “experimental”
basis. There really is nothing wrong with experimenting in psychotherapy,
as long as the client agrees to it.
Finally, every
psychological disorder is an “acquired condition”—from prenatal experiences,
through infancy and childhood, and even into adulthood—and only
psychodynamic
psychotherapy can get to the core causes of any disorder; every symptom
has a deep meaning in the unconscious.
Medications supress
the symptoms but do not cure anything. Still, different persons may benefit
from different interventions in different circumstances. It can be possible
to get to the core of alcoholism with psychodynamic psychotherapy, but maybe
you personally might need
cognitive-behavioral
treatment with a psychologist who specializes in treating addictions. And
you could likely benefit from treatment for the anger that underlies
ADD.
Thus, it seems that
you have wasted time, energy, and money on this so-called “therapy.” Maybe you
were too distracted by a preoccupation with your diagnosis of ADD and failed to
look into the causes and treatment of the anger that underlies ADD.
So, should you continue
psychotherapy with this psychotherapist? Well, ask the question like this: Should
you have terminated at the end of the seventh hour after you were “cured”? What
stopped you from leaving then? Maybe you continue in your addiction to alcohol
because you want the satisfaction of being angry with your parents, and so maybe
you wanted to continue the psychotherapy so that you could continue to have the
satisfaction of being angry at your therapist.
No
advertising—no sponsor—just the simple truth . . .
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