salixj asked something similar:

I don’t think psychotherapy is bad, I think it can be bad. In certain conditions, psychotherapy is harmful. Some form of psychotherapy are harmful and other are more likely to be harmful. A form of psychotherapy could produce a positive effect on a problem/disorder, but negative on others. Some kind of therapeutic relationships could be detrimental for some people. It’s quite a complex subject really.

My opinion is that psychotherapy is more likely to produce a negative effect when the therapist thinks the theory he embraces/the methods he uses is the best. When a psychoanalist (or CBT therapist or any kind of therapist) think psychoanalysis (or CBT or any other form of therapy) is the best of all, the probability of something going wrong increases a lot.

Let me give a simple example.

Critical Incident Stress Debriefing is a form of psychotherapy designed to prevent PTSD and related anxiety disorders among individuals exposed to extreme stressors. It’s administered in group within 24 to 72 hr of the traumatic event. The therapist talks about  the PTSD symptoms that the group members are eventually going to experience and encourage them to discuss and ‘‘process’’ their negative emotions. This is based on the assumption that to talk about the stressful experience and the associated emotions is good for you and it will prevent you to experience mental health problems.

That’s not true. The fact is, research shows the CISD can heighten risk for posttraumatic stress. So basically CISD produce the exact effect it is supposed to prevent. 

There are several reasons to why that could happen (for example, many people could be not ready to discuss their emotions, talk about your emotions is not always good.) But the main reason is that this program are thought to be useful to every person who had an extremely stressful experience because they’re expected to be more at risk, more in need for help, and when you’re stressed what’s better than talking about how you feel? Right?

No. Not always. Not for everyone.

So, the topic is complex and I don’t think I can explain it in details on tumblr, but, yes, psychotherapy can be bad. It’s not always bad. I think it can be very useful, really. But it can also be bad. That’s the truth.

No I haven’t. I haven’t done many drugs at all. 

I try not to think much about bullshit.

(via)

Anything that’s supposed to be good and right for everyone in any place at any time.

I don’t agree with your definitions. 

I also think part of my “nihilism” comes from my understanding of science.

It depends on how you define nihilism. If you define it as the philosophy suggesting that life has no inherent meaning and that there are not objective values, yes, you could call me a nihilist. Although I’m not sure if I’m a proper nihilist (probably I’m not).

No I don’t, because I don’t think they exist.

I think you’re probably right.

I don’t think it’s not contradictory.

You think that absolute moral laws don’t exist. It’s your opinion so it’s subjective. Even if something is an absolute for you, that doesn’t mean it’s absolute in general.

Anyway, I also think absolute moral laws don’t exist.

I studied some aspects of these theories, but I’m not an expert. I can agree with the general statements of these theories (like that individuals can be better understood as a part of a system of relationships), but having a superficial knowledge of the theory and practice of family therapy, I can’t say if I think it’s a valid approach. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful.