Can my therapist legally and ethically make me do this?

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Agreed... BUT they have 100% right to make it conditional on future services.

Last edited by kfisherx on 15 Feb 2011, 8:59 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hahahaha our rights eh? You have the right to keep your possessions.... but if you do then you won't be allowed to keep coming to the counsellor. Or, you have the freedom of speech... but we are going to label you as a criminal and prosecute you.

There are many things which we are manipulated into stopping, even though we have the right to do them. Simply because of the repercussions.


Although this isn't a very serious case IMO. and I think the OP should try some time away.

This would be somewhat reasonable, except for the part where ALL violent media must go away. Might as well never leave the house. The worst part is where you have to have positive everything. Brilliant! Lets get rid of one extreme and replace it with the other! It'll be all chocolates and roses from there!

Drop her and find another psych. She's probably an ultraconservative that thinks that all anime/manga is bad. I've met the type before, either they're so racist or ethnocentric that they despise it because most of it is of Japanese origin, or they think it's a tool of evil because it's animated and violent at the same time, so it corrupts the youth into thinking that it's ok (which A - most anime series are for teens/adults anyways, and B - most are no more violent than American live-action, and even then there's usually a good plot reason to explain it.)

I could understand if it was something like Higurashi or Black Lagoon, but seriously? FMA may have bloodshed but it's also has a strong moral foundation. And it's in the mainstream as far as manga goes (most are T, very few other than hentai series are rated 18+, and those are usually excessively violent), I mean I've met kids still in elementary school who read FMA and they don't have any issues.

Reiterate - get a new psych, one with a little more experience working with aspies and a little bit more of an open mind.

If reading about violence makes you feel happy, then do it. You will eventually grow tired of it and move on to something else. If you feel guilty about it, then you might feel further enticed by the fact that it is taboo. Football, WWF, Boxing, PG-13 movies, music, the bible, and the news contain violence.

Your therapist needs a therapist.

Great plan.

double post please delete.

Last edited by Todesking on 15 Feb 2011, 11:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Don't most? Over half the psych majors at my college are seriously fscked up.

My guess is any therapist or doctor has the right to stop treating a patient.

Physician heal thyself.

I think people get attracted to learning about things they themselves need. It makes sense.

It used to be that therapists did undergo a course of therapy themselves. It might still be the case.

Ok that is kind of weird: You get rid of ALL violent stuff and replace it with inspirational stuff? I'm surprised a therapist would suggest the all or nothing. All 'inspirational' would push me over the edge.

But if you are into nothing but violent everything, regardless of the source, then that is the other extreme. You are depressed. Maybe you could just find a middle ground. There is a middle ground with music, not exactly Death Metal but still metal. Figure out the amount of time you spend laying around on soft furniture reading or watching cool leather clad action slashers and go take a welding class. It is wild violent to slice up some metal. Figure out how to direct this in some way besides seeing animated guts pour out on the floor. Anime/manga rules but to feed it into your head constantly... ...naw

I think there is some value in using it as a release of anger. It releases pain to listen to strings of 'f**k yous' but in the end you have to shed some tears or it does turn inward to depression. I'm with you, I rather feel the anger, fight the weakness, but it only hurts me.

moderation moderation moderation

Dream theatre is a good instrumental band. If you have heard of them. They play some really long songs with different time signatures.
Animals as Leaders is another good instrumental band. They are a bit more progressive and have a different sound.

Of course she can legally ask you, she's not making you.

I suggest either try it and see if you find it to be beneficial or consult a second psychologist and ask their opinion on the matter. I wouldn't immediately tell your shrink you don't want to see her anymore.

It's like the therapist is pretty much saying stop talking to me about violence or I will suspend my service to you. If she does that, might as well get a new therapist. The OP needs to either abide by the wishes of the therapist or move on. It clearly is not working out.

I knew of a hospital doctor who would tell his patients to stop smoking, and he refused to see the ones who didn't obey him in that respect. He would make quite a fuss about it, as if deliberately trying to punish them. I don't approve of his stand, because people get addicted to things, and I feel it's a doctor's duty to work with what he has. In the same hospital, a woman was repeatedly warned to stop getting pregnant (because every time she did, it went wrong and they feared another pregnancy would kill her) - she paid no heed, but was never turned away for treatment, and her difficulty in co-operating with their advice eventually killed her. I don't see anything different about the smoking thing. In cases where the doc feels unable to continue with a patient, I feel the doc should find them another doc, so that the patient doesn't feel like they've been left alone with their problems.

But I think they threw out the Hippocratic Oath a while back. That was probably the source of the ethic. I don't know if it's ever been applied to shrinks. As for the OP's case, I really don't know, because I don't know how difficult it is to stop watching this violent material, or whether or not the shrink is right to think that's the problem, or whether or not the shrink is trying to use fear (of being left without support) as a lever. There are bound to be cases where a health professional feels they aren't competent to continue treating a patient, but failure to carry out advice shouldn't count unless it's extreme - a bit of hurt pride that the patient has a mind of their own shouldn't faze the doc so much that they can't continue, unless their ego is so delicate as to make them unsuitable for working with people.

The doctor could have said "don't smoke around me or I will stop seeing you." That would have been more appropriate. Otherwise, why not treat the patient for smoking? It is an addiction, and a doctor is supposed to help people. If the patient is not smoking around the doctor, or isn't exposing him to secondhand smoke, the doctor is obligated to treat the patient's addiction, unless there is something that is preventing this, ie, he isn't qualified in that specialty or something like that.
It's not the same situation. The OP might be able to still read about violence, just not discuss it with the therapist. If he doesn't discuss it, then how will the therapist know he is still reading about it?
The OP might want to suggest to the therapist he won't talk about it anymore and see if that helps.