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Reducing Dropout and Unplanned Terminations in Mental Health Services
Being a mental health professional is a lot like being a parent. Please read that last statement carefully before drawing any conclusions! I did not say mental health services are similar to parenting. Rather, despite their best efforts, therapists, like parents, routinely feel they fall short of their hopes and objectives. To be sure, research… — read more
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Making Sense of Client Feedback
I have a guilty confession to make. I really like Kitchen Nightmares. Even though the show finished its run six L O N G years ago, I still watch it in re-runs. The concept was simple. Send one of the world’s best known chefs to save a failing restaurant. Each week a new disaster establishment was featured. A… — read more
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“My Mother Made Me Do It”: An Interview with Don Meichenbaum on the Origins of CBT (Plus: Tips for Surviving COVID-19)
Imagine having the distinction of being voted one of the top 10 most influential psychotherapists of the 20th Century. Psychologist Don Meichenbaum is that person. In his spare time, together with Arron Beck and Marvin Goldfried, he created the most popular and researched method of psychotherapy in use today: cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT). I got to… — read more
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How Does Feedback Informed Treatment Work? I’m Not Surprised
Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) — using measures to solicit feedback about progress and the quality of the therapeutic relationship — is a transtheoretical, evidence-based approach. The most recent research shows clients whose therapists use FIT on an ongoing basis are 2.5 times more like to experience benefit from treatment. But how does it work? Quick. Take… — read more
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What does losing your keys have in common with the treatment of trauma?
Last week, I was preparing to leave the house and could not locate my keys. Trust me when I say, it’s embarrassing to admit this is not an infrequent occurrence. Logic and reason are always my first problem solving choices. That’s why I paused after looking in the kitchen drawer where I am supposed to… — read more
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Mountains and Molehills, or What the JFK Assasination and the Therapeutic Relationship have in Common?
Over the last 10 days or so, I’ve been digesting a recently published article on the therapeutic alliance — reading, highlighting, tracking down references, rereading, and then discussing the reported findings with colleagues and a peer group of fellow researchers. It’s what I do. The particular study has been on my “to be read” pile… — read more
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Symptom Reduction or Well-being: What Outcome should Matter Most in Psychotherapy
So, what contributes to a living a long, healthy life? Clean Air? Being lean versus overweight? The absence of depression or anxiety? Exercising regularly? Getting a flu vaccine? Abstaining from smoking? Minimizing alcohol intake? Personal sense of meaning? Close interpersonal relationships? Social integration? OK, I’ll come clean: all contribute–but not equally. Far from it. Some are more important than others. So, what contributes… — read more
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The Missing Link: Why 80% of People who could benefit will never see a Therapist
The facts are startling. Despite being on the scene for close to 150 years, the field of mental health–and psychotherapy in particular–does not, and never has had mass appeal. Epidemiological studies consistently show, for example, the majority of people who could benefit from seeing a therapist, do not go. And nowadays, fewer and fewer are… — 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