Over dramatic?

[pjfudge]

Am I being over dramatic about this?

 

I took an ASIST (Applied suicide intervention skills training) course last year to get out of work but learned a lot about suicidal people.

 

I recently went with someone to their counselor/psychiatrist (i can never remember which) and when they explained how they were feeling the guy they were seeing who called him and others that he had seen STUPID for thinking the way they did. To me that seems incredibly irresponsible and disrespectful.

 

I was on a duty and was reading through a log of events that had happened that night and one entry documented in short that there was a distressed person that agreed to get help in the morning and promised not to do anything STUPID over night.

 

Is it just me or does this seem wrong for people to use the word STUPID to describe the way someone is feeling.

 

Sorry to rant on it's been bugging me, and appoligies for any offense caused.

 

Regards

[Jannih]

Is it just me or does this seem wrong for people to use the word STUPID to describe the way someone is feeling.

 

 

It does not sound right to me either. In fact this counsellor/ psychotherapist appears to be very unethical in his treatment of a client.

 

Have a look on the British Association of Counsellors and Psychotherapists website. If you think this person should be reported, then contact them, as they are responsible for making sure that standards are upheld.

 

http://www.bacp.co.uk/

 

 

[pjfudge]

Thank you, I am going to look a bit more into all of this and see what would be best to do. I think that the company he works for has a complaints section and I will see what they would do.

[Tally]

You wouldn't call someone stupid for showing symptoms of a physical illness. I don't understand why it's so widely considered acceptable, even amongst the professionals, when the illness is psychological. I've never come across any literature that suggests insulting people as an effective treatment for depression or suicidal thoughts, but nevertheless, it seems to be very widely used.

[chris54]

At first glance using the word stupid does not seem appropriate but it would depend on the context of how its used.

 

"You are stupid to consider ------"

"It would be a stupid thing to consider------"

 

I'm not saying its right or wrong, I wasn't there so I don't know. Just don't get fixated on the word, take in the whole meaning of whats being said.

[Kathryn]

I agree with Chris. Although often used as an insult, it's also used fairly casually to mean "inadvisable" which is probably how it was meant in this context. It's a word best avoided (especially in writing), but the speaker and writer probably did not mean to be derogatory.

 

K x