Newsgroups: bit.listserv.psycgrad
Date:         Mon, 14 Dec 1992 11:06:33 -0800
              <PSYCGRAD@UOTTAWA.BITNET>
From:         Tor Neilands <tbn@UTXVM.CC.UTEXAS.EDU>
Subject:      RE: Colorado cocaine addicts

Jennifer writes a very impassioned letter which I won't quote verbatim to
satisfy those who prefer the shortened letter format. In her letter, she
argues that many practitioners are (1) in it for the bucks and prestige and
(2) that many don't have enough stats training to critically evaluate
techniques which may aid their clients---and, even worse, they don't wish
to expend the effort to learn something which may be beneficial to their
clients in the long run. As far as I can determine, the gist of the issue
is a perception that many helping professionals are "in for themselves
exclusively".

I'd agree that there are probably *some* practitioners are who are lazy and
who are in it for themselves, just like there are lawyers, doctors, and
other PHD's who are in it for themselves. I've seen all too many of them in
my academic experience and they make me feel the way Jennifer feels about
the practitioners she mentioned, esp. with respect to the ways in which
they handle taxpayer-generated grant money. On the other hand, there are
those in it who genuinely want to help others feel better about themselves
and to help them change their lives for the better.

Interestingly, this same complaint was advanced by a professor of
counseling psychology I met once in regards to one group of students he had
in an ethics and philosopy seminar one year--he was upset with them
because, in his judgment, they were interested only in "the bottom line".
"Just give me those counseling techniques and don't bother me with ethical
and philosophical concerns, thank you", was the message he heard from them.
For the next year's class, he and his cohorts on the recruitment committee
got together and made sure they selected a new cluster of incoming students
who were more interested in ethical and philosophical issues, so I would
imagine that there are some professor-type folks out there who are
concerned with these issues.

On another note, the issue was raised that psychotherapy is analagous to
prostitution, in the sense that intimacy is exchanged for money. One of my
friends here in clinical psychology has been disturbed by this issue
herself (she refers to psychotherapy as "selling intimacy"). Sidestepping
the issue of whether prostitution itself should be legalized, I wonder if
the label couldn't be applied to more "basic" branches of science, too? My
dad, who's a professor of biochemistry, has often said that he and his
colleagues "are call girls for the pharmaceutical and drug companies". We
all get paid to produce something for someone at some level, so I guess it
becomes a matter of where one is willing to draw a line...

In closing, I would like to say that I was very saddened to hear Jennifer's
story about the seminar professor who "appropriated" students' ideas and
then had the nerve to grade the students on the judged quality of said
"acquired" ideas. It's one thing to come up with ideas and plans for
studies in the context of a lively discussion and to get together with
students and run a multi-author study based on those ideas, it's quite
another to rip off the idea from a group discussion and call it one's own.
What's the old expresssion about "with friends like that...".

cheers,

Tor


Tor Neilands
Systems Analyst
Statistical Services Group
Computation Center
University of Texas at Austin
Austin, TX  78712

Phone: (512)-471-3241, Ext. 263

Internet:  TBN@Utxvm.cc.utexas.edu
___________________________________________________

"To thy own self be true".             --- Walt Whitman

"No matter what you call it, it's all just a game".
                                                   --- Master Wong
                                 "Once upon a time in china"

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood and I, I took
 the road less traveled by, and that has made all the
 difference".                                 --- Robert Frost
___________________________________________________

Disclaimer:  All of the views expressed above are solely
those of the author. Any relationship between my own
views and those of the University of Texas and/or The
Computation Center at the University of Texas are
due merely to regression to the mean.
____________________________________________________
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