{"id":1317921,"date":"2022-02-20T11:10:02","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T16:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1317921"},"modified":"2022-02-20T11:10:10","modified_gmt":"2022-02-20T16:10:10","slug":"dear-prudence-dump-your-therapist-if-shes-not-hysterical-about-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/dear-prudence-dump-your-therapist-if-shes-not-hysterical-about-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Prudence: Dump Your Therapist If She\u2019s Not Hysterical About Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fdear-prudence-dump-your-therapist-if-shes-not-hysterical-about-climate-change%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1317921&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/48601828662_d0e721913a_k-e1645204077103.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p><em><a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/tag\/poetic-justice\/\">Poetic Justice<\/a> is an advice column that offers counter-advice to submissions at other publications whose contributors have failed the reader.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>If your therapist doesn\u2019t believe the world is ending over climate change, Slate\u2019s advice columnist <a href=\"https:\/\/slate.com\/human-interest\/2022\/02\/therapist-climate-change-denier-dear-prudence-advice.html\">suggests<\/a> it\u2019s time to let her go.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, a distressed reader sought counsel from the online oracle of life advice on what to do when her therapist is not similarly hysterical over environmental Armageddon. The full submission is below:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p><strong>Q. Therapist is a climate denier:<\/strong> I (30, cis, bi woman) started seeing a therapist in summer 2020. She\u2019s been very helpful in dealing with my bigoted conservative Christian future in-laws, who became extremely radicalized throughout the pandemic. But I\u2019m seriously contemplating if I should stop seeing her.<\/p>\n<p>During our last session, I brought up something I thought would be worth discussing: that sometimes, the state of the world (climate change, rising political turmoil) gets me down. And that being a journalist\/editor exacerbates this because knowing everything going on is literally my job. I also explained this is a widespread problem in my field and I\u2019ve taken steps to combat it, such as unplugging outside of work hours. I was shocked that she then launched into a long rant about how climate change isn\u2019t real. She thinks it\u2019s absurd that anyone would consider climate change when deciding where to buy a house or whether or not to have children, which are decisions I will soon have to make. Her only other response was a harsh directive that \u2018I can\u2019t obsess about these things 24\/7,\u2019 to which I replied that I don\u2019t, that this was literally the first time I ever brought this up, that occasionally worrying about the world seems pretty normal, and that I just wanted space to talk about it. This followed another recent session where I brought up feelings about my family trauma (why I originally sought out therapy), and she was also very dismissive then.<\/p>\n<p>This was in early December. I had to cancel our next appointment because of COVID, and we haven\u2019t had contact since. I\u2019m not sure what to do, because I searched for a therapist for years. It\u2019s so hard to find affordable, accessible care. But on the other hand, I increasingly feel like she\u2019s being dismissive of me and that I can\u2019t trust her. I\u2019m not even sure If I still need therapy. The in-law situation has improved, but I\u2019m worried about losing that lifeline if I ever were to need it again. I think I need to at least schedule one more session to discuss what happened, but should I break up with my therapist?<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The advice from Jen\u00e9e Desmond-Harris, or \u201cPrudence,\u201d was clear and directive. If the therapist doesn\u2019t amplify your own climate anxiety, the invalidation \u201ccall[s] her judgment and professionalism into question.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt really is hard to find a therapist who\u2019s a good fit,\u201d Desmond-Harris opened her response. \u201cBut however long you spent looking for this one, she\u2019s still not right for you!\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>You say she\u2019s been helpful on some topics, so you can consider continuing to see her for now (and focus on conversations that feel valuable to you) so you don\u2019t have a huge gap without therapy. But in the meantime, start the search for someone new. Once you\u2019re booked with that person, use your last session to explain why the relationship no longer felt like a good fit, if you\u2019re up for it. Email is also an option if that\u2019s too awkward.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Here\u2019s some better advice: Listen to the therapist and the good news she brings. Why are liberals so often allergic to positive developments that contradict their cataclysmic narratives? Australia\u2019s Great Barrier Reef, for example, is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aims.gov.au\/news-and-media\/reef-recovery-window-after-decade-disturbances\">making a triumphant comeback.<\/a> But it\u2019s gone nearly unreported in U.S. media. <\/p>\n<p>Contrary to the <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2021\/12\/14\/the-new-york-times-publishes-postcards-from-a-world-on-fire-as-natural-disaster-deaths-decline-by-90-percent\/\">routine depictions<\/a> of a dying planet plastered across television and the internet, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nationalreview.com\/2021\/09\/climate-change-is-not-a-crisis\/\">world is not ending<\/a>. In fact, the planet we\u2019ve inherited today is the safest it\u2019s ever been, thanks in no small part to rapid development made possible by cheap reliable energy in the form of fossil fuels protecting us from the elements. <\/p>\n<p>Climate-related deaths have dropped more than&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/reason.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/files\/deaths_from_extreme_weather_1900_2010.pdf\">98 percent<\/a>&nbsp;since 1900. Weather has been to blame for 0.07 percent of deaths worldwide and&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/projects.fivethirtyeight.com\/mortality-rates-united-states\/external-forces\/\">0.01 percent<\/a>&nbsp;of deaths in the United States between 1980 and 2014. The falling rate of climate mortality comes after the planet warmed 1 degree Celsius since the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/science\/Little-Ice-Age\">Little Ice Age<\/a>&nbsp;century of the 1800s despite far higher atmospheric pollution than previously existed.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/rogerpielkejr.substack.com\/p\/a-remarkable-decline-in-landfalling?utm_source=url\">Hurricanes<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShellenbergerMD\/status\/1470523794758328327?s=20&amp;t=dspvZDwdK4_4gN56VQ39gQ\">wildfires<\/a> are also on the decline, pushing down the cost of climate-related disasters as a share of GDP.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><\/figure>\n<p>Shouldn\u2019t these statistics, conveniently omitted by Prudence, make the reader feel better? And more willing to bear children or move to the beach?<\/p>\n<p>Whether the therapist was rude is another question. Judging by the reader\u2019s submission, however, her own political biases appear to have blinded her to the comfort provided by her counselor. <\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t fire the therapist. Rejoice in an open mind and marvel in the magnificence of a world where living beyond 77 years isn\u2019t just a possibility but an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/fastats\/life-expectancy.htm\">expectation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Tristan Justice is the western correspondent for The Federalist. He has also written for The Washington Examiner and The Daily Signal. His work has also been featured in Real Clear Politics and Fox News. Tristan graduated from George Washington University where he majored in political science and minored in journalism. Follow him on Twitter at @JusticeTristan or contact him at Tristan@thefederalist.com.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Poetic Justice is an advice column that offers counter-advice to submissions at other publications whose contributors have failed the reader. If your therapist doesn\u2019t believe the world is ending over &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1317921","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317921","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1317921"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1317921\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1317921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1317921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1317921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}