Six Hour Anger Resolution Session = Cure?

The Institute of Meridian Psychotherapy

She sits

With time wrapped                                                                    

Round her wrist

To count the seconds, minutes

Of the six hour session. 

Above her, displayed

The (achieved online) certificate

Of her profession;

Anger Resolution Therapist,

The therapist who amateurishly

Probes the minds of those

Who come to her for frank confession.

They confess to her unbounded rage

And hope that she through therapy

Their smouldering anger will assuage.

But she plays with her online learned

Anger shafting mumbo jumbo;

(Her self perceived psychology diploma)

Her self importance well unearned

She talks of Freud's oral, anal stages

Mechanisms of repression, thought regression

Goals achieved and thought suppression

And all the other dangerous 'knowledge'

Gleaned from the spurious pages

Littering the path to her
Worthless online paper.

They come to her, her lab rats,

In hope that she might be the one

To set them free from their injurious rages

That bleeds red into their tumultuous lives

Of battered husbands, battered wives,

Lost hopes, lost jobs, lost dreams, lost friends.

And as she plays her dangerous game

Tearing their minds to raw emotion,

She has this ridiculous, egotistic notion

That her therapy will set them free

While the whole disaster descends

Into some horrific exposure of sorely damaged souls,

She sees this as success and realised goals;

Insensitive to the damaged reeked she seeks not closure

And blind, she is not the least bit curious

Why her 'clients' leave without grateful thanks

But with raped emotions and darkly furious.

This post was inspired by Maffick Mondays prompt – Anger management classes – and as usual I let the prompt take me where it wanted.  I researched anger management classes and was not surprised that anyone in the USA (sorry USA) could become an anger management therapist – however I was surprised that this applied to the UK too.

Sites will suggest that courses are aimed at professionals – but then add that anyone with a personal interest in anger management can take the online course too.  Professional or not – I would worry re any so called qualification earned on distance learning.

One of the sites I visited was the UK College of Holistic Training and for £225 and a recommended training period of three months or less – you will receive (I'm quite sure you will) a Diploma in Anger Management, be accredited with The Institute of Meridian Psychotherapy and the world will then become your counselling oyster.  All this on line – no face to face with a real person; no checks to see if you are able to deal with the can of worms you might open up, are psychologically suited to the task in hand, nothing.

Counselling, if carried out by amateurs is a dangerous thing and indeed those who are professionally qualified, really professionally qualified, may not possess necessary skills, can become complacent, fail to recognise opened wounds and thus do not close them.  People are left damaged by the very thing intended to aid them.

Some years ago I attended a course in bereavement counselling – discussing death poses no problems for me and I wanted to help those who were 'stuck' in the bereavement process.

The course consisted of ten one hour sessions and at the end I would be a bereavement counsellor.  I never became one as the course worried me, all of it screamed at me that I would be playing with peoples minds as there was no clear instruction, no learning of potential pitfalls or the wounds that I might open up and the skills, the knowledge base for closure.  The course consisted of mere role play and an awareness of bereavement stages and to me that was not good enough.  Although several of us raised this concern – it was never addressed.  So does it still continue?

The poem itself may be a gross exaggeration of the potential for damage, damage of those unfortunate souls who enter, eyes open, to therapy, but unknowing that their therapist may be an individual who completed an on-line diploma course and have absolutely no idea of the dangerous games they are playing with peoples lives – but it may not be.

Anna :o]