“I need (undefined) therapy.” Means I feel bad and think I will feel better if other people listen to me endlessly. Our other offerings, including group therapy, won’t be considered real therapy. One on one contact that involves something other than just listening -- assigning homework or examining assumptions, for example -- will be grudgingly acknowledged as therapy, but not good therapy. There will be something wrong with the therapist. Other variations include “I haven’t gotten any therapy here.”
Rescuing women often accept the reasoning from the violent men in their lives that the men just need to “get their anger out somehow.” Actually, these guys get their anger out just fine. It’s keeping it in we want them to work on. This seems terribly unhealthy to both the violent male and his rescuing female, who are puzzled that mental health professionals do not understand this very obvious psychological need. This particular bit of faulty reasoning is often paired with needing “therapy,” as above.
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