3w ago

Don't need therapy? Got money for sympathy?

Credit: u/manchesterMan0098

266 comments

I wonder if there's a market for male-centric therapy. As in "I've got a loada wood that needs chopping. Come chop wood with me and we'll talk about stuff". You know, give 'em something to do with their hands while they talk. Obviously you probably couldn't do that with someone who's known for being aggressive and has a criminal record, but someone who has trouble talking about their feelings and doesn't feel comfortable just sitting in a room or on a Teams call and would rather feel like they're accomplishing something.
- This seems like a remarkably good idea but I still wouldn't gender it. Say it's "hands on therapy for physically oriented people" or something. I'm sure there are plenty of non-male humans who would benefit.
  Hell, it might even work for my girlfriend who will go to insane lengths to avoid sitting down and having a conversation about anything personal. If it works, I owe you an upvote or something.
  
  It definitely works. Get into some hard work with another person - sweat, scream, and get bloody together. They'll start talking deep shit soon enough (and so will you).
  
  I'm a non-human who would absolutely love to be building shit while talking during therapy instead of using a fidget toy while avoiding eye contact because looking at someone looking at me and being vulnerable at the same time is NOT IT for me (yet).
  
  And it already exists, called occupational therapy or ergotherapy.
  
  Occupational therapy is a thing, but it is a very different thing. Occupational therapy is part of rehab that helps patients regain or retain activities of daily living like dressing, bathing, and feeding themselves, etc.
  
  And it can mean building something with them and then talking about how they are. I work closely together with OTs who do exactly that.
- I just go out drinking with my buds and we vent about shit. There's rarely any solutions but that's because the shit we're venting about is the world falling apart, not anything we can fix. But it does help a little to get it out of our system.
- I don't want to imagine what the insurance would be on a service like this. Customers chopping their own wood. That's an OSHA violation waiting to happen.
  
  Does OSHA even still exist?
  
  Well it's a federal agency right so I assume everyone's been fired.
  
  Safety is so woke.
  
  Probably no worse than the bars where you can throw axes.
- That's called triangulation! Focusing on a different task makes it easier to have vulnerable conversations.
- Yeah, it does exist. Usually in group settings. But not usually with sharp objects.
- Like the boy scouts for adults?

266 comments