瑞士心理學家榮格說：“心理治療的主要目的，并不是使病人進入一種不可能的幸福狀態，而是幫助他們樹立一種面對苦難的、哲學式的耐心和堅定。”心理學對于很多人來說是個神秘的領域，心理醫師也通常被人們賦予許多傳奇的色彩。然而對于心理治療，我們第一反應總是這樣的場景——“說說你的童年，”治療師看著躺在沙發上的你，緩緩吸一口雪茄……實際上，心理治療可不都是這個樣子。

By Samantha Popp

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When most people think of psychotherapy, they picture patients relaxing on a sofa and spilling all of their emotions. “Tell me about your childhood,” the therapist says, taking a drag of his cigar. In reality, therapy takes place in all kinds of settings.

Wilderness Therapy 荒野療法

When the campsite is set up and the fire is lit, the doctor is in. Wilderness therapy is a successful, and sometimes controversial, way to help troubled youth by teaching life and social skills on the hiking trail. Intensive group therapy and one-on-one sessions are coupled with outdoor activities like mountain climbing and fly-fishing to teach self-reliance and responsibility. Programs promise to reform even the most wayward of offenders, including juvenile delinquents and teens with depression, anger management issues, or eating disorders.

While wilderness therapy can be effective, certain methods have come under fire for using unethical, and sometimes downright abusive, techniques to help struggling youth. Wilderness programs are loosely regulated, so not all programs are staffed by qualified professionals. Upon closer examination, some “therapy” groups seemed to be just military-style boot camps with little mental health benefit.

Even legitimate wilderness therapy groups have been criticized for partnering with teen escort companies to forcibly remove unwilling participants from their homes to attend the program. While controversy and risk exist, wilderness therapy might be a creative way to teach life skills when other methods have failed.