Affirmations in Therapy: Is there a place for them?

... Once Upon a Time, when I was experiencing what I now frame as ‘existential nihilism with escape fantasy ruminations’ I ended up seeking counseling via my employer’s medical benefit program. While there exists the possibility that her advice of an affirmation practice might have benefited me, I was already inoculated against participating in the practice via MainStream SNL (Saturday Night Live) programming in the form of Stuart Smalley.

BrimGriz the wizard not behind the curtain, discloses his life goals to the counsellor Stuart Smalley. Unfortuneately, Smalley is a poorly trained counsellor and does not observe that his suggestion of affirmations are not resonating with the client.

Stuart Smalley was one of the characters from sketches that went on to exist in a film version (Stuart Saves His Family, 1995), which satirically lambasted counseling and those who practice it with embodied ridicule in the form of Stuart Smalley. Having been preprogrammed with pop-cultural comedy references to facilitate in-person superficial interactions resulted in me having a +3 to my Saving’s Throw versus Counselor Advice.

In some strange loop, making people who use an affirmation practice publicly ridiculous ... Read more

Guest Poster Grizwald Gaius Grim is a brilliant, amusing and absorbing writer on Substack (LARP Ingression Protocol) and Medium (Grizwald Grim). He can be found strategising at the thriving virtually not alone community he founded on Youtube (Grizwald Grim) and at the Broken Cl0ck discord server (you'll need protection till you garner your savings throws). In his down-time Griz provides OBS training to blue-sky streaming startups, develops prototypes for meaningful meet-space interactions, and cares for (herds?) abandoned neighbourhood cats.