There are people who benefit from your misery and they are the professionals I would consider most damaging to you.  I understand these types of mental health professionals will warp your relationship with an escort into some kind of social and spiritual death sentence simply because you pay the escort for your enjoyment in an act not socially accepted.  I hate to pit myself against these people, but truth be told they financially benefit by keeping you miserable.  Escorts financially benefit by keeping you happy.  That's the escort's bias in this game.  What is mental health professional's bias?

-- Modified on 11/13/2006 10:50:16 AM

Escorts take money from multiple Johns and earn a living off of making you happy for a few hours (if even that).

The happiness is short-lived, and can bankrupt a person both financially and mentally.

Finding happiness in the fleeting is futile.  Perhaps I should have substituted the word 'joy' for 'happiness'.

-- Modified on 11/13/2006 8:59:34 AM

The professionals are not wrong.  But you arent either.  That's why I havent given up on my therapist.  Or my whores.

Esentially you want to blame the escort for your lack of discretion and control.  They don't put a gun to your head and shout, 'Gimme the money!'.  You visit them on your free will, pay a market rate for a service, and get that momentarty flash of happiness.

I've met men who claim 'breakthroughs' in therapy.  They wind up on the floor curled in the fetal position crying like an infant and truly believe that represents 'progress'.  While in therapy they suddenly realize they have all of these 'problems' they never addressed and wind up nightly sucking legions of stranger's cocks in the Boston Fenway after this 'progress'.  

 Fuck that shit.  Rent the ho.  Feel good for your hour, then go home and weep yourself to sleep when you realize nobody likes you unless you dangle some Benjamins in their face.

Good topic/question but I dont accept the premise that if you visit escorts that you are basically unhappy or are seeking escorts to make you happy.  If I purchase two good seats lets say at a professional sporting event, or a good play or maybe a comedy club, I would pay just as much or more then I pay an escort for the an hour or two of time spent.  The joy/happiness I receive from any of the above activities are by definition fleeting and like all things in life can be unsatisfactory.  I am a happy person by nature, blessed with enough income to afford this hobby and others so in my mind this is not a hobby that I am looking soley for my happiness or enjoyment, rather, an activity that provides some moments of pleasure.  However, YMMV

A guy goes to a therapist.  He has emotional issues, maybe alcohol and/or drug issues.
He talks about his sex life, including escorts.  The therapist starts talking about sex addiction, how paying for sex blocks intimacy, emotional growth, etc.

My guess (and it is purely a guess, because if I had any private info about HOF I wouldnt disclose it) is that HOF or someone he knows got this lecture, and it pissed him off.

I get the same lecture.  IMO the therapist's point of view is valid.  But I also think that I am not changing so fast.  I have found something in this world, it is valuable to me, and I am not ready to abandon it.

TS Alter Ego:

I would take your comments one step further.  (Be advised - tongue firmly placed in cheek)

IMHO seeing an escort who is really good at their job may even be a better value than seeing your therapist.  After all there isn’t going to be much that an escort hasn’t heard, done or lived through before.  Maybe it’s just that I have more respect for the opinion of someone with actual life experience than mere academics.  I’ve also met more than a few escorts with psych degrees!  Okay let’s not get too carried away here, obviously when used correctly I believe both experiences can have good value LOL!

So, maybe it’s just good old fashioned professional jealousy.  If escorts were required to be degreed and obtain licenses they might be held in at least as much esteem as therapists (certainly higher than lawyers, no offense intended, but please don’t get me started…).  So maybe therapists have developed this opinion as a defensive mechanism to protect and defend their profession the same way that license requirements restrict entry into their business LOL!

I’ll put a question to both you and HOF:

How many times have you discussed some deeply emotional subject with an escort that you would never dream of discussing with your therapist (or certainly at least not quite so openly and honestly)?

Okay then, I rest my case.

Regards,

TS Tempted

...  bipolar disorder, clinical depression, or something rooted in an organic malfunction.  

I once told a TS escort the identity of the TS escort I briefly dated.  I've told a few TS escorts what I do for a living.  Occasionally I boast about various sexual escapades, but that seems fitting to the context of our social interaction.  With most escorts I'm in a 'here and now' mode.  I really don't care to share much about my background, nor do I dig for their's.  If they offer, I listen.  I can't say I've ever told an escort anything deeply emotional, though I've been the recipient of a few of their emotional rants.

'Mental Health Professional' is a complete misnomer, much as 'Health Professional' is a misnomer.  Both fields involve training in treating disease states.  They have nothing to do with health.  

The way for the 'mental health profession' to expand it's profitability is to extend it's business service into mainstream society.  The vast majority of the population is mentally healthy, not diseased.  If you work your way into the non-diseased population you now have a wider pool of money to draw from:  Couples in distress, kids with 'ADHD', anger management, job stress, the list goes on...  The mental health profession can never quantify or qualify many of the problems they address, nor do they often 'cure' those very problems.

-- Modified on 11/16/2006 1:44:08 PM