Therapists Who Tell You To Move On From Past Trauma Don't Know What They're Doing

[MainerMikeBrown]

Many therapists who work with those with mental illness that is largely caused by trauma that the person in therapy has gone through believe that delving into the past is necessary in order for the person to make progress in getting over what happened to them.

But then their are other therapists who instead will simply tell the person just to "Move on."

To me, that's bad advice for a shrink to give someone. I mean if you've been through something traumatic (or a series of traumatic experiences) such as rape, child abuse, etc., you're not going to be able to get over it by your therapist telling you to merely move on.

I mean, what are you supposed to do, just kick yourself in the butt and move on? What if you can't move on?

Some people aren't emotionally ready to talk about their past traumatic experiences. However, for the ones who are ready, telling them to "Move on" is foolish advice, I think.

[Kuma]

I generally agree with you. But I guess for some minority of therapy patients, "move on" might be the right advice. That's a tough thing about being a therapist -- knowing what advice is right for what patient.

[gadguy]

Many therapists who work with those with mental illness that is largely caused by trauma that the person in therapy has gone through believe that delving into the past is necessary in order for the person to make progress in getting over what happened to them.

But then their are other therapists who instead will simply tell the person just to "Move on."

To me, that's bad advice for a shrink to give someone. I mean if you've been through something traumatic (or a series of traumatic experiences) such as rape, child abuse, etc., you're not going to be able to get over it by your therapist telling you to merely move on.

I mean, what are you supposed to do, just kick yourself in the butt and move on? What if you can't move on?

Some people aren't emotionally ready to talk about their past traumatic experiences. However, for the ones who are ready, telling them to "Move on" is foolish advice, I think.

I agree, I don't think you can move on until you face your trauma and come to "terms" with it, and that means different things to different people.