why do we need therapy?

I'm going to operate on the assumption that, despite it's scientific difficulties, there is some merit in psychology and the therapy that arises from it.

If that's the case, and we are not talking about the problematic idea of 'normality' (which I intend to deal with in another post), when does it kick in? How do you know, or other people around you know, that you are having mental difficulties and need therapy?

Raymond Lloyd Richmond, Ph.D's website Guide to Psychology puts it simply thus:

"if you get too far out of line, life will let you know it: first, by whispering in your ear (i.e., through dreams); next, by kicking you in the butt (i.e., through the repetition of unpleasant, unconscious conflicts); and finally, by pulling the rug out from under you (i.e., you end up in prison or hospital)."

As I hinted was my incling in the previous post, we people are adaptive and if we are behaving in ways that are relatively harmless to ourselves and others, there really is no problem in fitting into society, even for someone like Ziggy the Bagman who has become a bit of a Brisbane icon.

However, our environment changes quickly, our lives can change so quickly that we cannot adapt (not in an evolutionary sense, because one can experience MANY dramatic life changes in a short period of their lives). When we have trouble adapting to the changed conditions, our usual behaviour becomes dysfunctional and we flail about trying to figure out how to cope with the changed conditions. Many usual life events can trigger these changed conditions: relationship problems, death of loved ones, loss of employment, economic crisis are common ones. We usually muddle through with the advice of well-meaning friends and relatives, or we can get help from counsellors and social workers. OR we can self medicate with drugs and alcohol and abnormal behaviour. When the abnormal behaviour gets us into trouble or becomes problematic for us and those around it, psychology steps in IF we want it to or can afford it. Often we may not be aware or care that our behaviour is not helping us adapt to the society we live in. We may resent and not want to fit into that society, we may reject it for the difficulties it causes us and the injustice inherent in it.

As Richmond puts it: "As long as you generally adhere to the law of the culture in which you live, and if you are satisfied with your life, then there is no problem and no need for psychotherapy."

I haven't gotten into the social inequity inherent in this model that suggests psychotherapy for those that can afford it and substance abuse, violence, crime for the rest of us. I think I can safely say that for the majority of the world, psychotherapy is not going to be a solution where food, shelter and money needs are not yet met. But let us confine ourselves in this instance to Australia.

In Australia, we do not have to live hard hand-to-mouth lives. But may people do because of the social inequality inherent in capitalist societies and because of their inability to succeed and fit into the normalising model of worker-consumer that our society entails. I'm not sure if psychology has anything to say about this.

If my judgement of capitalist society is valid, what benefit is there in helping people resign themselves to their inequality? What happens to the revolutionaries when we are all on meds?