SPEAKER’S CORNER

Before you get all comfy on that couch, check out your shrink’s credentials, says Jo Kromberg.

Jo Kromberg on why she thinks psychotherapy is overrated

Dromomania. Ever heard of it? Neither had I until recently: the term is defined as the addiction to travel. If pressed, I’m sure I could come up with a lengthy list of all the things I should be in therapy for – but my penchant for travel is not one of them. It seems new conditions are thought up every minute nowadays, all of them needing treatment.

For decades, Sigmund Freud was considered the ‘father’ of psychotherapy, despite some of his own eccentricities (euphemism of the day). The man was hardly a poster boy for optimum mental health. But a couple of years ago, Frederick Crews wrote a book entitled Freud: The Making of an Illusion, exposing Freud as a man who ‘blundered tragicomically in his dealings with patients, who in fact never cured anyone, and promoted cocaine as a miracle drug capable of curing a wide range of diseases’.

Freud invented the long process of psychoanalysis – so popular in the ’80s and ’90s – sometimes lasting years and yielding few (if any) results. After all, the socialites he treated provided a steady source of income by not being cured! It is astounding that his ideas were so influential – not that all mental health professionals are fans of Freud’s work; many are just the opposite.

But can you really trust your shrink? Some research suggests they could be more disturbed than you are. A study by the American Psychiatric Association compared the early childhood experiences of female psychologists to those of other professional women. The therapists reported higher rates of family dysfunction, parental alcoholism, sexual and physical abuse, and parental death or psychiatric hospitalisation than their professional counterparts.

The issue I have with the modern practice of psychology is the making of mountainous amounts of misery (and money) from molehills. Take dromomania. Some authors describe patients with this diagnosis as experiencing partial amnesia of the events of their journeys, as well as a ‘loss of sense of personal identity… and impulses to homicide and suicide’. What troubles me is that this serious-sounding condition has been ‘adapted’ to include an innocent, perfectly normal desire for frequent travel.

But this is small change. Take ADHD, for example. According to the Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Support Group of Southern Africa (ADHASA), South Africa has one of the highest rates of prescribing medication for ADHD – even higher than in the US. It goes more or less like this: your child’s teachers call you in to tell you (in PC terms) that your child is disruptive in class. Then they suggest a visit to your friendly neighbourhood psychologist, who refers you to your even friendlier neighbourhood psychiatrist – who prescribes Ritalin. Obviously there are kids who do suffer from this condition, but did yours have it to begin with, and will you ever know?

The human psyche is complicated and permeable. Deviant behaviour could be the result of a pronounced psychological disorder, but it is the more nuanced stuff now qualifying as ‘disorders’ that we should find problematic. For your own sake, do some research before embarking on a course of therapy to be sure that you find one of the truly helpful therapists out there.