Would it be possible for you to provide information on the quantity/frequency of the following findings?
1. “People find it difficult to find therapists who accept the values of Effective Altruism or whom they can trust”
2. “Thoughts on whether an EA-aligned therapist is necessary: some say yes, others no; some say it’s helpful to speak with therapists who are outside of the EA community.”
Also, for 2, I’m curious whether they made claims about whether it was necessary or whether it was optimal. Seems quite different and my experience tells me that some growth areas (e.g., career-related beliefs and struggles) would be optimal for having someone EA-aligned (or at least EA-informed) whereas others wouldn’t matter (e.g., ADHD).
Hi Sebastian! Sure thing! For both findings, they were findings that were not explicitly measured, but rather were provided as additional information by respondents, so please note that this is the case. That said:
6 people said they find it difficult to find therapists who accept the values of Effective Altruism or whom they can trust. For instance, they said it’s hard to find therapists who don’t tell them “I want to do as much good as possible” is pathologically wrong, and that their mental health providers are concerned about them getting lost in helping too much.
1 person said they’d be interested in seeing a therapist recommended by another community member, 3 people implied that they thought an EA-aligned therapist was necessary (due to non-EA-aligned therapists having concerns about their values being healthy or accepting their commitment to those values), 1 person said it was necessary (so not optimal, but a need because they needed someone who understands ), 1 implied that it wasn’t necessary (they’re more concerned with finding an effective therapist, i.e., one who is good at listening and helping figure out problems, than whether or not that therapist is EA-aligned), and 1 said it would be helpful to speak with a therapist from outside the EA community to get an outside view.
I agree, from experience speaking with a few people, coaching with people who understand EA-values (though who do not necessarily identify with Effective Altruism themselves) is more helpful for some career-related growth areas, whereas support from medical and other mental health professionals who are willing to listen and try to understand (though who do not necessarily know much about Effective Altruism) seems to be ok for medical diagnoses and therapy.
This seems relatively aligned with my perspective although the specifics of what the therapists said in relation the strong moral values matter as moral perfectionism can be self-defeating. I’d also add that it seems as if older EAs are less concerned with EA-informedness than younger. For an example of why it might be beneficial to have an EA-informed coach or therapist, I quite liked this podcast episode on 80K.
Thanks for this!
Would it be possible for you to provide information on the quantity/frequency of the following findings?
1. “People find it difficult to find therapists who accept the values of Effective Altruism or whom they can trust”
2. “Thoughts on whether an EA-aligned therapist is necessary: some say yes, others no; some say it’s helpful to speak with therapists who are outside of the EA community.”
Also, for 2, I’m curious whether they made claims about whether it was necessary or whether it was optimal. Seems quite different and my experience tells me that some growth areas (e.g., career-related beliefs and struggles) would be optimal for having someone EA-aligned (or at least EA-informed) whereas others wouldn’t matter (e.g., ADHD).
Hi Sebastian! Sure thing! For both findings, they were findings that were not explicitly measured, but rather were provided as additional information by respondents, so please note that this is the case. That said:
6 people said they find it difficult to find therapists who accept the values of Effective Altruism or whom they can trust. For instance, they said it’s hard to find therapists who don’t tell them “I want to do as much good as possible” is pathologically wrong, and that their mental health providers are concerned about them getting lost in helping too much.
1 person said they’d be interested in seeing a therapist recommended by another community member, 3 people implied that they thought an EA-aligned therapist was necessary (due to non-EA-aligned therapists having concerns about their values being healthy or accepting their commitment to those values), 1 person said it was necessary (so not optimal, but a need because they needed someone who understands ), 1 implied that it wasn’t necessary (they’re more concerned with finding an effective therapist, i.e., one who is good at listening and helping figure out problems, than whether or not that therapist is EA-aligned), and 1 said it would be helpful to speak with a therapist from outside the EA community to get an outside view.
I agree, from experience speaking with a few people, coaching with people who understand EA-values (though who do not necessarily identify with Effective Altruism themselves) is more helpful for some career-related growth areas, whereas support from medical and other mental health professionals who are willing to listen and try to understand (though who do not necessarily know much about Effective Altruism) seems to be ok for medical diagnoses and therapy.
Thanks so much for this reply—very informative.
This seems relatively aligned with my perspective although the specifics of what the therapists said in relation the strong moral values matter as moral perfectionism can be self-defeating. I’d also add that it seems as if older EAs are less concerned with EA-informedness than younger. For an example of why it might be beneficial to have an EA-informed coach or therapist, I quite liked this podcast episode on 80K.