Dear (Shrink's name omitted):
I'm writing to express my annoyance that you got me out of my sick bed last Thursday for a session that was largely a waste of time. Why a waste? Because you insisted on lecturing me on your left-wing political views, even though I largely agreed with them (with important nuances discussed below). Was I feeling ill about Trump's election? No? Didn't matter. You were gonna lecture me anyway!
Such lectures are completely out of place in any psychotherapy session, especially one with a patient with my etiology. Perhaps the most compelling reason why this is so is that discussions of the predations of the billionaire class suggest that I am a helpless victim. Not exactly the kind of empowerment that psychotherapy is supposed to offer! What's worse is it would be all too easy for me, in particular, to get ensnared in my resentment towards the oppressor, because it would be all too easy for me to conflate this nefarious oppressor with my mother (She may have a lot to answer for, but not that!).
Every minute wasted on left-wing cant is a minute not spent on helping me with my stated goal accepting my rage at my mother, feeling the rage once and for all, and finally, finally releasing it. How can I possibly do that when I am, at the same time, egged on to resent the big money guys? Come to think of it, the Trumpers have already gone down that road, the politics of resentment. You should be egging me on to run, not walk the other way!
We have discussed over and over again how I feel like a ninny. Well, I still do and I'm deeply, deeply grateful for it. I'm honored to be able to accept the tragedy of human fallibility. I can then accept the Trump worship of the evangelicals in rural Texas. (I, too, was a religious cult member) or the hedge fund guys, solely preoccupied with tax reduction (I too, long to be a Master of the Universe, unfettered by demands by mere mortals to hand over even one penny of my hard-earned wealth.). There are certainly a lot of categories of Trumper, and you should insist that I find the humanity in every single one of them, if only because they are fellow ninnies.
This brings me to the final reason why political discussions are so useless in our sessions. Simply put, I have not earned the right to do so. How can anyone as filled with suppressed resentment as I am objectively look at the undeniable inequality in our society "without blame", as you like to say? How can anyone as filled with self-pity as I accept the fact that not all wrongs can or maybe even should be righted? How can anyone with my compulsive desire to improve my self-worth by increasing my net worth have any truly objective opinions about economics? And, in economics, you had better have objective opinions; otherwise, you get Cesar Chavez of Venezuela. He thought he could establish an oil financed socialist utopia. Unfortunately, because he was so busy being Father Christmas, he never thought to ask what would happen when the price of oil dropped, as it does with regularity.
So, if you absolutely must mention politics during our sessions, take a moment to dwell on the abundant historical record of disastrous choices of my fellow ninnies in free and fair elections, starting with Hitler in 1933. Then please take another moment to think about how you can help me, a heretofore incurable momma's boy, find courage, because I am gonna need it. We've tried sympathy, but it is all too easy for sympathy to enable my momma's boy self-pity.
In actual fact, I was not feeling ill because of the election, but because of my wish to participate in it. I had originally signed up to canvas for Harris even though I have a heart condition and can't walk very well. I wanted people to see a man who could barely walk plead with them not to abandon democracy, and I wanted to know what it actually meant to put my body on the line for my country. I felt our country deserved no less. After all, this was the land that really did take in my grandparents, Henry Belinkie and Rebecca Ginsburg, who really were, as Jews, "the wretched refuse" of their Russian homeland. I bailed at the last minute because I thought my romantic notions would just lead me to get in the way. Nevertheless, I did take the time to sit in a chair, without getting up, for hours making campaign calls, and that threw out my back. I had my chance to be courageous after all, because it really hurt, and for a long time. Your session caught me in the middle of that. How did I do on the courage front? Though the session didn't help, I didn't collapse emotionally, but I didn't pass with flying colors, either. Let's just say my efforts needed work. Perhaps you can help with that.
Best,
