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Learning Charisma
I entered university an accounting major. My first year, I took all the recommended courses: accounting theory, fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting, and so on. I’d likely be sitting in an office balancing company ledgers or completing tax documents had I never met Hal Miller. A Harvard-educated professor, Dr. Miller taught multiple sections of… — read more
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Finding Meaning in Psychotherapy Amidst the Trivia and Trivial
I don’t know if you feel the same way I do. Looking back, I’m pretty sure its been going on for a while, but somehow I didn’t notice. Professional books and journals fill my bookshelves and are stacked around my desk. I am, and always have been, a voracious–even compulsive–reader. In the last couple of years, the volume… — read more
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The Illness and the Cure: Two Free, Evidence-based Resources for What Ails and Can Heal Serious Psychological Distress
Findings from several recent studies are sobering. Depression is now the leading cause of ill-health and disability worldwide–more than cancer, heart disease, respiratory problems, and accidents. Yesterday, researchers reported that serious psychological distress is at an all-time high, significantly affecting not only quality but actual life expectancy. And who has not heard about the opioid… — read more
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The Replication Crisis in Psychology: What is and is NOT being talked about
Psychology has been in the headlines a fair bit of late—and the news is not positive. I blogged about this last year, when a study appeared documenting that the effectiveness of CBT was declining–50% over the last four decades. The problem is serious. Between 2012 and 2014, for example, a team of researchers working together… — read more
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Why aren’t therapists talking about this?
Turns out, every year, for the last several years, and right around this time, I’ve done a post on the subject of deterioration in psychotherapy. In June 2014, I was responding to yet another attention-grabbing story published in The Guardian, one of the U.K.’s largest daily newspapers. “Misjudged counselling and therapy can be harmful,” the… — read more
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Improving the Odds: Implementing FIT in Care for Problem Gamblers and their Families
Quick Healthcare Quiz What problem in the U.S. costs the government approximately $274 per adult annually? If you guessed gambling, give yourself one point. According to the latest research, nearly 6 million Americans have a serious gaming problem—a number that is on the rise. One-third of the Nation’s adults visit a Casino every year, losing… — read more
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Do you know Norman Malone? FIT, Grit, and Grace Personified
At the tender age of 10, Norman Malone’s father attacked him and his two younger brothers with a hammer while they slept. Their mother, drugged into unconsciousness by her husband the prior evening, found the children the next morning. Each had suffered grave head wounds, but were alive. Later, all would learn the senior Malone… — read more
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Love, Mercy, & Adverse Events in Psychotherapy
Just over a year ago, I blogged about an article that appeared in one of the U.K.’s largest daily newspapers, The Guardian. Below a picture of an attractive, yet dejected looking woman (reclined on a couch), the caption read, “Major new study reveals incorrect … care can do more harm than good.” I was interested. As… — read more
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Implementing Feedback Informed Treatment
What do the Sydney Opera House, Boston Central Artery Tunnel, and Eurozone Typhoon Defense Project all have in common? In each case, their developers suffered from, “The Planning Fallacy” (PF). First recognized in 1979 by Nobel Prize winning psychologists Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky, the planning fallacy is the all too human tendency to underestimate… — read more
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What do clinicians want anyway?
What topics are practitioners interested in learning about? If you read a research journal, attend a continuing education event, or examine the syllabus from any graduate school course, you’re likely to conclude: (1) diagnosis; (2) treatment methods; and perhaps (3) the brain. As I’ve written previously about, the brain is currently a hot topic in… — read more
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Therapist Wanted: Dead or Alive
Do you get those letters about the top healthcare providers in your area? At the beginning of the new year, our city’s local magazine publishes a list of the top healthcare providers. It’s a big deal. Organized by location and specialty, the issue contains full-page photos, glossy spreads, and breezy write-ups. Impressive stuff with a… — read more
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Dinner with Paul McCartney (and others)
Growing up, my family had a game we frequently played around the dining room table. “If you could invite anyone to dinner,” it always started,”who would it be?” Invariably, my father chose historical figures: Abraham Lincoln, Mark Twain, Leonardo Da Vinci. My mom was more inclined toward the living: Jackie O., J.D. Salinger, Lucille Ball. … — read more
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Is Documentation Helping or Hindering Mental Health Care? Please Let me know.
So, how much time do you spend doing paperwork? Assessments, progress notes, treatment plans, billing, updates, etc.–the lot? When I asked the director of the agency I was working at last week, it took him no time to respond. “Fifty percent,” he said, then added without the slightest bit of irony, “It’s a clinic-wide goal,… — read more
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How not to be among the 70-95% of practitioners and agencies that fail
Our field is full of good ideas, strategies that work. Each year, practitioners and agencies devote considerable time and resources to staying current with new developments. What does the research say about such efforts? When it comes to the implementation of new, evidence-based practices, traditional training strategies routinely produce only 5% to 30% success rates. Said another way, 70-95% of training fails… — read more
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Do you do psychotherapy?
You know psychotherapy works. Forty years of research evidence backs up your faith in the process. And yet, between 1998 and 2007, psychotherapy use decreased by 35%. People still sought help, they just went elsewhere to get it. For instance, use of psychotropic drugs is up 40% over the last decade. A recent article in… — read more
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Resources on Feedback-Informed Treatment, Training, & Research
Last week, I spent a day in London working with the clinical staff of the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The subject? Feedback, of course! As soon as I stepped off my transcontinental flight, I knew it was going to be a fun day. Every way I turned at the Heathrow airport I was greeted… — read more
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Curing Clinician Overconfidence: Try Darting and Frowning
Overconfidence. It’s a problem that leads to systematic errors in judgement. Long thought to arise out of hubris or the corrupting effects of the emotion, the evidence actually shows it to be built into humans’ evolved cognitive machinery. Existimo ergo certus sum (I think, therefore I am…certain). Behavioral health professionals are not immune. A recently… — read more
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Thomas Szasz, M.D.: Memories of a Friend and Mentor
Very early in the morning of December 9th, 2009, I received a call in my hotel room. My long time colleague and mentor, Jeffrey Zeig was on the other end. "May I ask you a favor?" he said. "Of course," I instantly replied, completely unaware of what was coming. "Tom Szasz is caught in a… — read more
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REACHing the Next Level of Clinical Performance: What it Really Takes
Do any of these people look familiar? Well, of course, I’m the guy in the middle pointing. To my left is the rock and roll guitarist Joe Walsh. On my right is world-renowned, card mechanic Richard Turner. Why have I pictured myself sandwiched between these two? Because they are both inspiring examples of what can… — read more
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Feedback Informed Treatment: Update
Chicago, IL (USA) The last two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity here in Chicago. First, the "Advanced Intensive." Next came the annual "Training of Trainers." Each week, the room was filled to capacity with practitioners, researchers, supervisors, and agency directors from around the globe receiving in-depth training in feedback-informed practice. It was a… — read more
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The International Center for Clinical Excellence: Using Social Networks for "Real Time" Research
The International Center for Clinical Excellence was officially lauched at the Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference in December 2009. Since that time, membership has grown steadily. With over 3800 members, the ICCE is the largest, web-based community of behavioral health professionals dedicated to improving the quality and outcome of service delivery. The site features nearly… — read more
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More from Sweden
Three short weeks ago, I was in Stockholm, Sweden talking about "what works" in clinical practice. As I announced at the time, my visit coincided with an announcement by the organization governing mental health practice in the country. For the better part of a decade, CBT enjoyed near exclusive status as "evidence-based." Indeed, payment for… — read more
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NEWSFLASH: The Advanced Intensive and Training of Trainers in Feedback Informed Therapy (FIT)
Dateline: March 17th, 2012, Chicago, Illinois USA Barely a month ago, I announced the addition of a second "Advanced Intensive" (AI) course in Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT). The original March training filled really early this year and a long waiting list formed. Now the second Advanced Intensive training in FIT scheduled for July 30th through… — read more
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The Achieving Clinical Excellence Conference CALL FOR PAPERS
In October 2010, the first annual "Achieving Clinical Excellence" was held in Kansas City, Missouri. A capacity crowd joined leading experts on the subject of top performance for three days worth of training and inspiration. K. Anders Ericsson reviewed his groundbreaking research, popularized by Malcolm Gladwell and others. ICCE Director, Scott D. Miller translated the… — read more
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Implementation Science, FIT, and the Training of Trainers
The International Center for Clinical Excellence (ICCE) is pleased to announce the 6th annual Training of Trainers event to be held in Chicago, Illinois August 6th-10th, 2012. As always, the ICCE TOT prepares participants provide training, consultation, and supervision to therapists, agencies, and healthcare systems in Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT). Attendees leave the intensive, hands-on… — read more
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The New Average: Meeting the Need to Exceed
No matter where you look,good is no longer "good enough." In a recent article in the New York Times, author and trend watcher, Thomas L. Friedman, declared, "Average is Over." It’s an argument similar to the one made over a decade ago by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, in his phenomenally… — read more
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Getting FIT: Another Opportunity
The March Advanced Intensive in Feedback Informed Treatment is full! Not a single space left. For several weeks, we put folks on a waiting list. When that reached nearly 20, we told most they’d probably have to wait until next year to attend. Wait no more! The ICCE is pleased to announce a second, "Advanced… — read more
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Excellence "Front and Center" at the Psychotherapy Networker Conference
This year, the Psychotherapy Networker is celebrating it’s 35th anniversary. I’m not going to let on how long I’ve been a reader and subscriber, but I can say that I eagerly anticipate each issue. Rich Simon and his incredibly dedicated and talented crew always seem to have their fingers on the pulse of the… — read more