Psychobabble?

Other than watching television, there is nothing modern Americans like to do more than pour out our hearts to strangers. It's a trend that is reflected here at Harvard, where the campus is littered with garish posters advertising the various counseling services available to members of the University community.

By far the most prominent posterer is Room 13, a general purpose counseling service operating out of Grays' basement. Response deals with issues of rape and harassment. Peer Contraceptive Counselors (PCC) provides advice on the more technical aspects of sexuality. And during the past week, ads for Contact have sprouted up on campus, offering help to all those concerned with questions of sexual orientation.

I myself have nothing against therapy. It's a good and (frequently) necessary thing, one that should be made available to students free of charge. Yet the recent proliferation of ads concerns me in two ways regarding the quality and intent of the various counseling services available to us as students.

My first concern stems from the way in which these organizations advertise. The typical method is a poster featuring a "grabber" on top, with pertinent information following in smaller print on the bottom. The grabber itself is almost always a quote intended to portray particular emotions from the point of view of a generic, troubled individual.

Postering is necessary if these groups are to reach Harvard students and help them. But after encountering 10 or so Room 13 posters in a walk across the Yard, each featuring a different grabber, it's easy to wonder whether the organization is putting more effort into advertising or counseling.

Room 13 is actually the best of the lot in this respect; their grabbers are usually relevant. Other organizations are either unimaginative, politically loaded or overly aggressive.

Response gets awards in the first and second categories. Their poster grabbers range from the creative "I've been raped and I'm really angry" to the oh-so-subtle and reassuring "They didn't believe Anita Hill, will they believe me?"

PCC wins the aggressive category with their advertisement ordering those with possibly unrelated questions to contact the service (i.e., "'I'm not really sure this is about contraception...'Call Anyway") And some grabbers just seem to lack any relevance whatsoever. If you've ever wondered "How can I tell my girlfriend I'm gay?" then Contact is more than happy to talk to you.

I myself have nothing against therapy. It's good and (frequently) necessary.

This proliferation of posters and mass-produced catch phrases would be less annoying if it reflected a genuine effort to help the troubled. But it really seems more of an outpouring of commercialized sympathy by over-eager psych majors desperately competing for the most students' attention.

The grabbers defeat their own purpose by insulting their audience. Harvard students are intelligent enough to realize when they're troubled--in their present state, the posters only alienate the very people they seek to help.

Secondly, some of these groups tend to be just a little too political. Response, for instance, features grabbers with heavy socio-political overtones such as "Do I call it racism or sexual harassment?" Is this counseling or merely advice on which charge to bring the male-chauvinist-oppressor next door before the Ad Board?

In order for counseling to be both effective and fair, it must be as far removed as possible from politics and larger societal issues. Will questioning students who visit Contact receive help in sorting out their own emotions, or will they instead be instructed on how they should feel about themselves? Both are valid issues.

Only the former is therapy. The latter should be left to the Institute of Politics.

David H. Goldbrenner '96 is an occasional contributor to the Opinion page.