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Comment by NotSuspicious | Hacker News Reader

> However you'd find also thousands, millions in fact, of happy people who used the services of psychics, mediums, astrologers, crystal healers, taro readers, shamans, reiki practitioners, remote viewers.

Maybe, and I know this seems like a crazy idea, we should look into that? It seems like a pretty big blindspot to dismiss all of that outright because the mechanism of action isn't yet understood or because it clashes with philosophical views that were common among some academics who died last century.

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I suspect you could get the same benefit by paying some random nice person to talk with you for an hour about anything. Whether the topic is your star chart or home decorating or model railroads probably doesn't matter. There is a lot of evidence that frequent social contacts produce better mental health outcomes.

but you don't find random nice people. most people do not have the capacity or are not willing to empathize with the problems of others. especially as a man you are often not allowed to show vulnerability. these paid professionals are sometimes the only ones willing to listen and not laugh at your problems.

Yes, but being a psychotherapist is extremely emotionally taxing, which is part of the reason why it exists as a profession; try listening for a day straight of conversations regarding rape, sexual abuse, depression, anxiety, etc.

I wasn't referring to real licensed psychotherapists. My point was that if people feel like they benefit from talking to an astrologer then they could get the same benefit from talking to anyone else who's trying to help. The benefit comes from the social connection, not from the astrology.

I don't think we dismiss that, but we attribute to the placebo (and nocebo) effect that is very real and still very poorly understood in spite of major efforts in the area. We know it exists, we know the factors that influence it, we know we can't really control it, but we don't understand the mechanism of action.

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