, worrying that all the ailments they are going to learn about just may be festering in their own bod
The same mindset is doubly present in psychological training. We all have a little bit of what’s being discussed and the tendency to latch onto most everything is always there. That’s why psychologists are so neurotic, I think. It’s because they ignore the real maladies they have, thinking they are fantasies.
Ha! That’s where I learned this. The marriage counselor for my first marriage told me both. She said that my wife had become part of a program at our church for helping “battered wives” and the result is that she honestly saw me as an abusive husband.
I tried to work with her and read a bunch of books, went to classes, etc. But eventually I said to her that they had so diluted the concept of “abuse” that the only man to ever live that was not “abusive” was hung on a cross. I also had it out with my abusive men’s group leader over this (he was a volunteer as well).
The core program that did us in was called “Learning to live, learning to love”. They were accusing me of repressing memories of my childhood when, once I interviewed my parents, I found out I had not repressed any memories. The problem was that the program was pure attack on the husband and, for all I know, was a good program if there was serious physical abuse present. But since, at the end of the day, the “real” abuse in that relationship was coming from the, I learned.
But yeah, your comment touched a nerve. After that whole fiasco was over I warned the pastor that if they leave that program in the church, someone is liable to sue them eventually.