Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
Why does Dora need therapy?
dragontart:
I just read (did more research because of this here) that the American English word "Counseling" is now used in our pretty country for a totally brand new inventive [/irony] branch of mental help offers. Obviously we don't even have an own word for that. (When you translate "counseling" it usually doesn't mean something about psychological help.)
Also, according to the internets, more and more health insurances take over the costs for limited hours of psychotherapy if you can find a psychologist who offers such counseling, have a referral from [I can't find it again but my head is aching too much to find out] and you and your new therapist convince your insurance that you really need that therapy.
Anyways. Now you're up to date. Me too. Maybe I could give it a try again.
The bad image of psychological help because of said associations is correct, though. (Also it's often assumed that "mental/psychological" equals "imaginary" problem but that's a different story. Might be the reason for the shortage of psychologists.)
This was completely off topic but I didn't want to let it stand uncorrected.
Germany, Austria and Switzerland don't have much in common except the language and their geographical location. Guess they're better of that way, hum.
jwhouk:
I refuse to Godwin this thread. ;)
Seriously: Mr. Hodges does point out a problem with the cultural mores that everyone brings to the table when they read this strip.
In the US, when someone is having issues similar to what Faye was having over a relationship or relationships, it isn't unusual for them to try to find a licensed therapist with whom discuss their situation.
Most Americans, by the way, would understand the word "therapist" to equate to "psychiatrist", "psychologist", or "counselor". Bottom line is, they're people who are trained to listen and help people with behavioral issues - whether by therapy, medication, conditioning, training and/or just listening.
Faye, having benefited from such a situation, saw that Dora was having an issue with her relationship - mostly, how she ended it - she recommended that she seek out a therapist as well.
Yes, she had to coerce her, but Faye saw it as necessary (or, as those of us who are counselors* would say, "using tough love") to help her friend and boss.
We haven't seen or heard about many of Dora's sessions, compared to Faye's visits with Dr. Corrine. This may just be an oversight on Jeph's part, or it may be intentional; either she hasn't had any more sessions since the one we last heard about, or Jeph just decided not to put it into the strip.
Regardless of what or who or why she's in therapy, Dora's the only one who can determine that she's ready to get back into the dating scene. Time might be the only way to tell if she made the right choice by going out with Jim.
* - Yes, I am a counselor. Sometimes I don't do any of the stuff I listed, but sometimes I do. Deal.
Is it cold in here?:
No proof that it's cause and effect, but the Pugnacious Peach is doing a lot better since she restarted therapy. Maybe it will be equally good for Dora.
JordanDH:
With regards to the now dead "truth serum" debate: Has anyone ever gotten really drunk and slept with someone they would never have slept with sober? Or lied when drunk to get sex? Or know of someone who has? Does that seem like the effects of a truth serum?
Oh, and most of the time, when you're talking about things that aren't of the conscious mind, the correct term is "unconscious", not "subconscious". It's just one my pet peeves.
From Wikipedia, the source of all our knowledge (ok, but it's referenced too)
--- Quote from: Wikipedia ---"If someone talks of subconsciousness, I cannot tell whether he means the term topographically – to indicate something lying in the mind beneath consciousness – or qualitatively – to indicate another consciousness, a subterranean one, as it were. He is probably not clear about any of it. The only trustworthy antithesis is between conscious and unconscious."
Thus, as Charles Rycroft has explained, "subconscious" is a term "never used in psychoanalytic writings".[6] And, in Peter Gay's words, use of "subconscious" where "unconscious" is meant is "a common and telling mistake";[7] indeed, "when [the term] is employed to say something 'Freudian', it is proof that the writer has not read his Freud".[8]
Freud's own terms for mentation taking place outside conscious awareness were das Unbewusste (rendered by his translators as "the Unconscious") and das Vorbewusste ("the Preconscious"); informal use of the term "subconscious" in this context thus creates confusion, as it fails to make clear which (if either) is meant. The distinction is of significance because in Freud's formulation the Unconscious is "dynamically" unconscious, the Preconscious merely "descriptively" so: the contents of the Unconscious require special investigative techniques for their exploration, whereas something in the Preconscious is unrepressed and can be recalled to consciousness by the simple direction of attention. The erroneous, pseudo-Freudan use of "subconscious" and "subconsciousness" has its precise equivalent in German, where the words inappropriately employed are das Unterbewusste and das Unterbewusstsein.
--- End quote ---
Oh, and all the necessary jubilation of a first post and so on.
TRVA123:
I'm getting sick of this truth-serum debate. I don't see it as an either/or sort of issue. Each side of the debate has merit, and doesn't completely preclude the other side.
Marten was drunk, which involves lowered inhibitions, causing him to behave completely inappropriately around Faye, doing and saying things he would never have said otherwise. I don't see why this means that he absolutely was lying, or telling the truth.
Its hard to completely get over someone, and it seems completely plausible to me that Marten still is a bit bitter over the Faye situation. This doesn't mean that he only dated Dora as a "placeholder" or anything else. His relationship with Dora was wholehearted, to my reading of the strips. But with the breakup with Dora making Marten feel very bitter, he probably was reminded of another "failed" romantic relationship that he still felt some bitterness toward. This is speculation, but I don't think it's unreasonable to come to this conclusion.
What Marten said was a mix of truth, spite, lashing out, and exaggeration. He wanted to hurt Faye, he still harbored some hurt feelings over her not returning his romantic feelings, and he was just in a bad place mentally.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version