In This Episode
- What's the best psychology modality?
- How traders can use talk therapy to improve
- Emotional Freedom Technique
The Benefits and Limitations of Talk Therapy
There can be a stigma towards going to a therapist. So we break down how talk therapy can be used to help improve trading performance and when this type of therapy may not help you.
Even if you don't want to see a professional therapist, there can be a lot of value in finding a trading accountability buddy and talking to them every week. Learn more about your options in this episode.
Read the Transcript
Hugh: Hi, Walter. I am interested to hear your thoughts on talk therapy and how that helps people through certain psychological roadblocks.
Walter: When you say talk therapy, you mean like talking to someone?
Hugh: Yeah, you go to a therapist and then you sit down on the couch and all that.
Walter: I will tell you one thing that I found really fascinating, like when I was learning about psychology and stuff in university. One of the biggest things that you go and talk to someone about is depression. When I was still in university, they had drugs for this sort of thing but I do not think it was at the acceptance level. I do not think it took a big portion of the treatment.
I do not think that a large percentage of the population, — maybe I am wrong but maybe just the world that I was in — but a lot of people would go and talk to a therapist if they were depressed. Whereas, today even in psychology I think that, I do not know if it is true but they were pushing for some psychologist to be able to prescribe drugs just as psychiatrist for years because psychologists can never do that. I do not know if that has gotten anywhere but I remember twenty years ago that is what they were trying to do. They were trying to get it to a point where certain psychologists could prescribe drugs.
Depression and anxiety are the two big ones that people go to see a therapist for. They’ve done studies on depression and these talk therapists as you say. What is interesting is it actually didn’t matter the theoretical orientation of the psychologist or the therapist.
There’s all these different theories like people heard of Freud but there are other ones like cognitive behavioral or they’re trying to get you to quickly change your thinking and that will therefore change your behavior. So there’s a lot of talk radio or on tv you will see that a lot.
There’s also humanistic therapy where people, it’s almost like when you go to a humanistic therapy, they will just try to get you to talk as much as you can. They’ll just try to reassure you and get you to open up. It’s a lot of, “Tell me more” and, “That is interesting, how does that make you feel?”
It is fascinating. I find that it does not really matter if your therapist is a Freudian, humanistic or cognitive behavioral or whatever. It seems like they are all about the same in terms of effectiveness. If you look at studies where they had people go through really traumatic life events, it is usually the ones that go and talk to someone. The family or the community that talks about what happened rather than just kind of, brushing it aside, those are usually the ones that do the best.
I think it is useful. In terms of trading, having someone that you talk to every week about your trades, about your feelings, about having a trading accountability partner, that is extremely useful. I think from a trading point of view, it is great. It is a great use of your time.
You can do all you want. Hypnotherapy, subliminals and all that but having someone to talk to about your trading, even if it is a non-trader I think can really be helpful. Writing it out in a journal, writing about your feelings, about your trading and how things are going rather than the technical details of every individual trade. So more of a big picture sort of thing. I think it can be very useful.
It can give a bad rap sometimes. People will say things about therapy for certain things or there's bad publicity. Certain therapists might do crazy things or whatever but I think overall, the data is pretty good.
I think just having, like I said you know, it is hard. Trading is a lonely thing and so having other people to talk about it is really useful for a lot of traders. What are your thoughts on that?
Hugh: I do not have a lot of experience with that kind of thing but I think from personal experience, talking to another trader is good because nobody else in your life knows what you are talking about. I think a lot of people, especially in our modern culture, they shove their emotions down. So talking about it is definitely helpful. At a certain point you have to kind of say, “Okay, is this working as well as it did in the beginning? If not, maybe I should try something else.”
I know some people who have gone to therapists for, you know, ten years and they are kind of at a similar spot they were the first six months. So that is something to consider too. I think it is helpful overall to talk to someone about things.
Walter: Some therapists, that is their design. The Freudian's, they kind of want to go to this huge process that takes years. It is kind of like you go to chiropractors and they’ll tell you, “Well, it is going to take fifteen sessions.” It is good marketing for them. “You cannot just come in once to crack your back and you are all good, we’ve got to really work on this.
Hugh: Sometimes it is true.
Walter: Absolutely. If you believe in what the chiropractor is saying, there is a reason for what they say but the cynical people can say, “You go to a Freudian, to get to a point of what is called transference, it could take decades. Literally.” If the therapist could live that long, if you have an older therapist, you’ve got to start doing the math. Do I have to go to a new therapist before I get to the point?
Hugh: I think it is also on you to research all the modalities to see what to expect. Look at people’s experience of those things and say, “I will try this. If this is not going to work, maybe I will try this and this is the average time that those people seem to get results.” Just kind of not to take their word for it at face value.
Walter: Yes, absolutely. Our friend, Adam, did the tapping thing.
Hugh: The EFT.
Walter: Yes, the emotional freedom technique. He talked about it in the London conference, that was cool. Some people can try that. That is kind of the quick fix sort of thing but I would never say to someone that you need to talk to someone because that is the best thing to do. It is more about what works for you. You might find the EFT or subliminals or whatever but I think just in general, it can be useful. Some people do not like to talk to people.
Hugh: That is true.
Walter: Some people are out there, they could take it or leave it. I think overall, it is definitely something to consider. If you are considering it, it is probably a sign that you should do it but again, it does not have to be a professional. It could just be a trading buddy or someone you know that knows that you trade or whatever.
Hugh: Cool, awesome. Thanks, Walter.
Walter: Thanks.
Hugh: All the information in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and is not trading or investment advice.
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