| > I'd be willing to bet half of them you'd find in any online aggregator could end up communicating more judgementally Whilst I do support the idea that "fit" is important, statements like these about unsupported statistics pulled out of thin air are damaging in and of themselves. It's sentiment like this that put me off seeking help for my mental health for twenty years because it just seemed like a "damned if you do, damned if you don't". The reality was very different. Chatbots may never tire of you, but neither will a video game. Both are shallow and not a representation of reality, nor a solution to a problem. Here's the thing: professionals are professionals. For as long as a patient sees them, they are paying their bills. Exhaustion in non-professionals is because people trauma-dump and expect someone to be their guardian/protector/shield, if they're friends with them, they're statistically likely to be trying to manage their own problems already. In the pre-digital era, people would otherwise "need" a support network if they didn't have access to professionals. We didn't have a theory of psychology or professional therapists in the past. The early tribe/clan either took care of each other, or they let people suffer. Different peoples did different things with their mentally ill, elderly, physically ill, or unwanted female children. Ego-centricity is a trait of modernity, not necessarily something reflective of the past because we can just replace the human gears in the system now without much hassle. |