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> After years of study, intensive therapy and earning a Ph.D. in psychology

I wonder what the percentage of psychologists get their degrees to figure out what the hell is wrong with them. I bet it is pretty large.

Also her gaze in the picture is quite unnerving. I wonder if it is because I know she is a sociopath or would I find it just as unnerving if I did not.




> Also her gaze in the picture is quite unnerving.

Photographers know their business.


I'd say you're right. The lighting draws a line down the middle of her face; our brains don't like asymmetry so arranging the lighting and expression like that has intent.

No photographer trying to capture a regular image would have the light fall like that, and it would be very hard/lucky to get it to do it "by accident"


My wife is a therapist and says it's a very common reason people get into the field.


i think this is positive. because it means therapists can empathize when people feel that there is something wrong with them. there is nothing worse than a therapist who doesn't take your feelings seriously.

also, when you do need therapy yourself, depending on what kind of therapist you get, you can end up spending a lot of time learning just for your own sake. my brother did that, and at some point he was able to explain his issues better than the therapists he talked to.

did you ask your wife about her reasons to become a therapist?


>i think this is positive. because it means therapists can empathize when people feel that there is something wrong with them. there is nothing worse than a therapist who doesn't take your feelings seriously.

On the other hand if you happen to have a condition that doesn't respond well to therapy it seems kind of horrific to me to become a therapist just to learn that.


I don't want therapists to empathize and feel my emotions, I want them to sympathize and understand why I feel that way. You don't want doctors who have compromised their judgment by being in emotional states from self inflicted empathy when trying to treat people in a judgment free and rational way. Taking my feelings seriously as another input to the question of my mental state is different than feeling a personal empathetic connection with someone who is supposed to be their patient.


I want them to sympathize and understand why I feel that way

yes, exactly. english is not my first language, so maybe i am not applying the right terms. either way i think is easier for the therapist to understand their patients if they themselves feel that there is something different about them.


Same. Knowing some of them personally confirms that they‘re humans after all.


Same reason why the percentage of Registered Dieticians with active or recovered eating disorders is very high.


Most common motivations are to understand why they are so messed up and to exert power over others.

The former usually fail and the latter always succeed and get tremendous benefits from it, not unlike the ones bullies get from abusing their victims.


The two psychologists I know are definitely in the top decile of people I know who need to see a psychologist, so yes this tracks.




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