Call For Ideas: Fanish PA Shrink looking to Grow.

POSTED BY: Noocyte
UPDATED: Thursday, March 2, 2006 03:49
VIEWED: 7724
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NOOCYTE

Monday, February 27, 2006 2:03 AM

Greetings, fellow Browncoats. As some of you may know from reading my posts/profile, I am a clinical psychologist by trade (and no, you don't have to be all self-conscious; one of the earliest and most important lessons which I learned in grad school was when to take off the Shrink Hat {cos, oy! does it pinch!}). Reason I'm posting today (and I've also posted over on the serenitymovie.org, and cleared it with Admin., Gossi) is to humbly request the assistance of the Great Engine of Browncoat Brains.

You see, for the last four years, I've been an affiliate of a group private practice in Washington Crossing, PA, USA (the Yardley Center for Psychology. Great bunch of folks!). But the time has come to go Indy, so I am opening a new private practice, called.....wait for it....”Serenity Psychology Associates, L.L.C.” The location will be HERE, in Langhorne, PA ( http://www.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=140+East+Richardson+Ave.+Langho
rne,+PA+19047] ), and I will officially start seeing clients at the new location on Monday, March 6th.

In addition to a specialty in working with adolescents (I'm one of those masochistic souls who actually enjoys working with that population. A lot.), I also do individual work with adults on matters like depression, anxiety, relationship issues and life transitions (divorce, job change, post-graduation adjustments, and the like). The model I use is a broadly psychodynamic ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychodynamic) one, which I have augmented and expanded via my studies of chaos/complexity theory and a smattering of Buddhist thought. A bit more about me and about my practice can be found here http://www.myspace.com/serenitypsych.

So, where do y'all come in? When I tried to think of an aspect of my self and the practice I could form which would differentiate it and me from the scads of other therapists (of various stripes) in the area, it got me thinking about my own interests, like the ones which brought me here. I'm a Fan. I've been a Speculative Fiction geek for most of the time I've been aware of my own consciousness. I'm relatively comfortable moving through those circles (though, compared to some I know, I freely admit to being something of a dilettante!), and I have loads of experience with what the “Mundane” world does with Fans, especially young ones. I'm intimately familiar with the feeling of moving through social circles in which I know that the vast majority of my references will be hopelessly lost, and the frustration that comes when a quote from Firefly or The Princess Bride or Star Trek or some obscure short story by Ben Bova would just nail what I'm trying to say. In retrospect, I can recall long periods of time when the isolation was so dreadful that I took an active hand and started defensively mediating my interactions more through fantasy imagery than a “real-time” dialectic with my social context (“What would James T. Kirk do right now?' or on really bad days, Thomas Covenant)...which only caused me to fall further out of touch. I expect there are at least a few of you who know exactly what I'm talking about.

All this got me thinking about developing my experiences into a sub-specialty in Fannish issues (essentially, matters of being a Fan in a Mundane world: embracing the Inner Geek, integrating socially without losing the sense of wonder, managing the jeers of non-fans by shoring up self-esteem...that sort of thing). This led me to do some literature searches, and I turned up virtually nothing on the subject. I might be the only (or at least one of the very, very few) explicitly Fan-friendly shrinks going. And that adds up to niche market.

So, my request to you all is for some ideas on how to market my practice in a manner which does not scream “FLAKE” to the general population, while making myself visible to them as could benefit from this sub-specialty (in turn, without signaling condescension or an implicit {and inaccurate!} sense that Fannishness is some kind of disorder). If I do this right, I could

DONCOAT

Monday, February 27, 2006 2:42 AM

As to the URLs, I think all you do is type them in without tags, and the board figures it out and linkifies them. Could be wrong, though.

I don't really know if fan issues are enough to form a practice around. But I do know this: many Firefly fans show all the classical stages of grief over the show. Just read a few of the newbie threads -- it's all there: depression, anger, denial. And why not? The show's demise had about as much fairness as a death in a traffic accident.

It hasn't escaped our notice that fan boards like this one can help, acting as a kind of support group for the folks who are going through this. Some people here take special care to meet-and-greet the new folks and offer that support (in a lighthearted way).

I know there were some joking remarks in my family about "holding an intervention" when they learned that I flew across the country to attend last year's Flanvention.

So maybe you're on to something after all. Except there's one big problem: most of us don't want to be cured. We won't reach "acceptance" if it means never getting any more stories about Mal & Co. We're going to keep holding until we get them back. So if the first stage of healing is admitting there's a problem... you're out of luck!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I don't disagree on any particular point.

RHYIANAN

Monday, February 27, 2006 2:59 AM

Doncoat:
I think it's not "getting over the geekiness" that this guy means, more of "integrating geekiness into being a social creature". At least that's what I get out of it.

Noocyte:
Personally, I don't really see a way you can advertise that without being labeled some type of weirdo by the general public. If you already have clients that are fans, then you could have them spread by word of mouth, but otherwise I can't be much help.

Wash: Yeah, but psychic? That sounds like science fiction.
Zoe: You live on a spaceship, dear.

NOOCYTE

Monday, February 27, 2006 3:16 AM

SNIP

Quote:
Originally posted by DonCoat:

I know there were some joking remarks in my family about "holding an intervention" when they learned that I flew across the country to attend last year's Flanvention.

So maybe you're on to something after all. Except there's one big problem: most of us don't want to be cured. We won't reach "acceptance" if it means never getting any more stories about Mal & Co. We're going to keep holding until we get them back. So if the first stage of healing is admitting there's a problem... you're out of luck!

Actually, Don, part of what I'd hope more people will get is that there is nothing to "cure" when it comes to being a Fan (Firefly or otherwise), anymore than people who travel across the country to go to a special football game are in need of "intervention." These are the attitudes from non-Fen which can be so toxic, because they are so prevalent, and so there's the danger that they are internalized by fans themselves (look at the word, "Geek." I use it myself, I'd not try to get all huffy about it and spit in the wind. But let's be clear that, however much we've embraced it, the original intent of the word was/is not complementary...).

As for "accepting" that there will be no more word from the 'verse...well...I think all I've written makes pretty plain where I come down on that. If not, then I'll just drive peaceably away, leaving you looking at my "SHINY" license plate.

Now, if I was in the company of someone sitting in his house, furiously engaging in a letter-writing campaign to bring back "Space: Above and Beyond," (a show, which I loved, BTW), I might take a different view on the whole Kubler-Ross grieving thing...

Department of Redundancy Department

SAMEERTIA

Monday, February 27, 2006 3:43 AM

Noocyte,
I'm actually pleased and relieved that we have a psyche specialist on board. Congrats on the new practice! It's always so exciting when we can begin to follow our hearts in our callings. (now, if Adam Baldwin would just realize he needs a love slave....)

So, let me see if I understand the crux of the question-
You need ideas on how to bring social awareness to the forefront on issues of fandom and fan-phenonemon.

My first suggestion- Publish.
You know the words- publish or perish. Write an initial treatise or journal article on fandom as an important social structure in todays society, outlining the benefits of fandom in any specific area of psychology. OR write a book that actually focuses on fandom issues.
Get the intellectual community talking to build legitacy.
THEN focus on the individual aspects of dissecting the benefits and pitfalls of fandom in society.
(And we cannot pretend that in some fans, the fandom of choice can lead to dysfunctional lifestyles.)

Just my two cents worth. :)
(oh dear, a shrink that quotes Thomas Covenant?)

HIXIE129

Monday, February 27, 2006 4:16 AM

Physician heal thy self!

I like my pain, I need my pain, I want my pain.

NOOCYTE

Monday, February 27, 2006 5:21 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hixie129:
Physician heal thy self!

A work in progress, I assure you

Quote:
I like my pain, I need my pain, I want my pain.

"Life is pain...Anyone who says differently is selling something" -Dread Pirate Roberts.

Let's just go with paraphrasing Freud, who talked about boiling away the unnecessary, neurotic pain, and leaving behind good, honest, healthy human misery.

P.S. Hope you didn't delete the "get thee behind me Satan" line on my account; I kinda liked it.

Department of Redundancy Department

HIXIE129

Monday, February 27, 2006 5:28 AM

No, not on your account, it was my account,
did not think it was not called for.

If you rather I put it back in I will.

I need my pain, From a Star Trek Movie. Guess you didn't see it.

NOOCYTE

Monday, February 27, 2006 5:31 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Rhyianan:
Doncoat:
I think it's not "getting over the geekiness" that this guy means, more of "integrating geekiness into being a social creature". At least that's what I get out of it.

Noocyte:
Personally, I don't really see a way you can advertise that without being labeled some type of weirdo by the general public. If you already have clients that are fans, then you could have them spread by word of mouth, but otherwise I can't be much help.

Rhyianan: Yup, that's exactly what I meant. Also, your point is well-taken about scaring off the 'danes. Way I'd been thinking about it was to omit or very much understate that aspect in my general advertising (such as here: http://classifieds.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=classifieds.viewAd
&classifiedID=1109966&catID=13&subCatID=141&Mytoken=953B8F36-CF6C-6BF9-690BA22B0C3376F913662455 --OY! That's a looooong URL!!--), and emphasize it in my outreach to more targeted Fannish circles. Still collatin' data there...

I do have a couple of clients who could be described as Fans...but it's kind of unethical to try and recruit them to spread the word (pesky ethics!). Now, they may choose to do this on their own, but I'm not real sanguine about encouraging them; kinda pollutes the work and muddies the relationship, if ya know what I mean.

Department of Redundancy Department

NOOCYTE

Monday, February 27, 2006 5:35 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Hixie129:
No, not on your account, it was my account,
did not think it was not called for.

If you rather I put it back in I will.

I need my pain, From a Star Trek Movie. Guess you didn't see it.

D'OH!! I missed a Sybock reference! Some Fan-shrink I am!

Your call on the "Satan" bit; jes' lettin you know I wasn't offended.

Department of Redundancy Department

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