Quality therapy can positively transform peoples lives. Like anything positive, if therapy is provided by unskilled or unstable practitioners, it has the potential for real damage. There's a specific brand of therapy or rather “pseudo-therapy” that is dangerous and destructive. For the most part, this approach to therapy is more prevalent in the “woke” culture and therapists that subscribe to it, and for the most part is less common in the frum community. However, it does exist and it is important to be aware of its features and pitfalls.
Many therapeutic modalities are based on the principle that the relationship between the therapist and the client is itself a crucial part of healing. In a very specific, limited way, the therapist is mimicking what parents do. We learn who we are from the content and quality of our interactions with our parents. For example, if as children we were yelled at alot, then as adults, we will believe we are “bad” and yell at ourselves internally as well. If as children we were accepted and heard, we will accept ourselves as well.
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