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Comment by chickenmonkey | Hacker News Reader

Ultimately, perhaps some of these people are really looking for a therapist.

... but without the stigma.

But I think the guy himself has a point when he says he lowers the bar. Think how many different jobs (or "roles") there that can be ranked in a kind of hierarchy: not in the sense of a career ladder, but in services and expertise offered. Between the bottom of this hierarchy, and nothing, is a gap to fill.

Take for example personal protection. Sure, if I need a high tier of that service, I could get myself a bodyguard, maybe one of those with ex-military experience and all the combat training etc. Between that and "nothing" is a random joe who tags along to the Tinder date, like this guy.

Or sure I could meet a licensed therapist. Don't want to? Can meet a friend. Don't have one? This random dude to the rescue.

Yes, this isn't just _therapy_. Although apparently he provides that in a highly limited way. I think "someone to tag along in uncertain & common situations" is a useful service.

I also think that there's probably a lot lost in translation, and would be very interested in a JP resident / speaker providing commentary and context.

Fortune teller in Japan is sometimes considered as a lightweight blackbox version of therapist. They listen customer's talk and give advive in blackbox way.

I 've seen people react with a "oh so wacky japan" attitude when something like this pops up. But I agree with you, this is nothing more than a form of therapy.

> Another reflected, "I had been slack about visiting the hospital, but I went because he came with me."

I have seen multiple people be much more eager and diligent in taking a pet to the vet, than taking care of theirselves (due to fear, shame, and an if you ignore it long enough mentality) this hits hard.

Well, in the US at least a vet is significantly less expensive.

And in my experience pet insurance is more generous than human insurance

Depends on what you need. I just paid three times more to get my dog a flu shot than it would have cost me to get for myself without insurance.

I agree, though, that doctors for non-humans are generally cheaper than those for humans.

For me personally, I'm more likely to take a pet to the vet because I'd feel guilty about neglecting a pet, while I can neglect myself without feeling guilty (just like I do when I knowingly eat too much junk food or don't exercise enough or whatever -- I know its bad, but I can ignore it).

I saw a lecture on psychology 101-- I think it was the free online one from Stanford-- where the professor said the main benefit of talk therapy is just having someone who cares about your problems for 45 minutes.

So he what he is doing is therapy.

In my experience this can be an extremely harmful approach to talk therapy (and talking about therapy).

The main benefit is having someone trained to listen for specific symptoms based on what you talk about and to develop treatment strategies based on what you discuss and symptoms you experience.

I wouldn't reduce it to "having someone who cares about your problems for 45 minutes." It's more like "talking about your problems for 45 minutes to someone who can recognize which ones are rational, which ones aren't, and can discuss with you how to mitigate the negative effects of your own irrational thoughts."

You are basically summarizing the idea of cognitive behavioral therapy, but I don't believe it's been established it works better than ordinary talk therapy.

The cognitive behavioral therapist has to assume the human mind works a certain way, suffering is caused by "irrational" thoughts, and therapist is somehow more "rational" than their clients, so can help their clients be more "rational" like the therapist. These are some big assumptions.

Part of the “humans are social creatures” thing - communication is thought. Explaining yourself to another person organizes and makes connections within your ideas that rumination doesn’t.

I have a good friend who is a Reiki practitioner.

We don't have deep conversations about theory of function, but the peripheral mentions that creep into our conversations seem to point in this same direction.

I'd say it's therapeutic in it's own, but most therapists try to do more.

For more info on therapeutic factors, see https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4592639/ obligatory clickbait: you will be surprised!

The problem with therapists is that therapists tend to come of as a position of authority and that that, for many, makes them less effective.

This man takes the position of a peer.

An unassuming, low-key peer at that.

It highly depends on the 'school of therapy', there are approaches when therapists view themselves more of a 'fellow traveler/sufferer on the road of live' and less of an authority figure. And it's highly depends on the individual client and therapist.

Is it therapy though? It feels more like they’re buying slim verticals you’d normally “get” in a romantic relationship.

A close personal friend is also a good stand-in for this type stuff.

I think this whole thing comes from a place of generalized loneliness and lack of genuine human contact between people. Technology's other edge has enabled physical isolation quite a bit.

While that meets the definition of "person that does nothing", but is not the cheapest alternative. That person has student loans to pay off.

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