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Do you know who said, "Sometimes the magic works, sometimes it doesn’t"?
Well, do you? It was Chief Dan George playing the role of Old Lodge Skins in the 1970 movie, “Little Big Man.” Whether or not you’ve seen or remember the film, if you’re a practicing therapist, you know the wisdom contained in that quote. No matter how skilled the clinician or devoted the client, “sometimes therapy works, sometimes it — read more
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Barriers to seeking mental health care
With all the challenges facing the profession, it is important to highlight people and organizations that are working hard to make a difference. On that note, tomorrow, Tuesday the 25th of September 2012 is the very first National Psychotherapy Day. Having a day of unified, active promotion of psychotherapy is the brain child… — 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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Cutting Edge Feedback
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS Using feedback to guide and improve the quality and outcome of behavioral health services is growing in popularity. The number of systems available for measuring, aggregating, and interpreting the feedback provided by consumers is increasing. The question, of course, is, "which is best?" … — read more
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Is Psychotherapy Dead?
"AMERICANS PREFER DRUGS" screams the headline posted by the Reuters news service and attributed to Consumer Reports–one of the most respected periodical for the average American reader. "NEARLY 80 PERCENT TAKE A PILL FOR DEPRESSION," the article continues. Read a little further and do some searching around on the internet and a different story emerges. Americans it turns… — read more
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The Cryptonite of Behavioral Health: Making Mistakes
Most people readily agree that its important to "learn from mistakes." In truth, however, few actually believe it. Mistakes are like cryptonite, making us feel and, more importantly, look stupid and weak. As a result, despite what we might advise others, we do our best to avoid making and admitting them. Such avoidance comes with… — read more
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Changing Home-Based Mental Health Care for Good: Using Feedback Informed Treatment
Modified Arnold Woodruff & Kathy Levenston Some teach. Some write. Some publish research. Arnold Woodruff and Kathy Levenston work for a living! Kathy Levenston specializes in working with foster and adopted children. Arnold Woodruff developed the first intensive in-home program run by a community services board in Virginia. He has over 30 years of experience, and has served as… — read more
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Getting FIT in the New Year: The Latest Evidence
John Norcross, Ph.D. is without a doubt the researcher that has done the most to highlight the evidence-base supporting the importance of the relationship between clinician and consumer in successful behavioral healthcare. The second edition of his book, Psychotherapy Relationships that Work, is about to be released. Like the last edition, this volume is a virtual… — read more
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The Effects of Feedback on Medication Compliance and Outcome: Follow Up on The University of Pittsburgh Study
Late last year, I blogged about a study being conducted at the University of Pittsburgh by Dr. Jan Pringle, the director of the Program Evalutation Research Unit in the School of Pharmacology and her colleague, Dr. Michael Melczak. You’ll recall, there were two conditions in the study. In the first, pharmacists–the practitioner most likely to interact… — read more
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Error-centric Practice: How Getting it Wrong can Help you Get it Right
It’s an idea that makes intuitive sense but is simultanesouly unappealing to most people. I, for one, don’t like it. What’s more, it flies in the face of the "self-esteem" orientation that has dominated much of educational theory and practice over the last several decades. And yet, research summarized in a recent issue of Scientific American… — read more
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Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT): A Worldwide Trend in Behavioral Health
In my prior blogpost, I reviewed exciting developments taking place throughout Canada regarding "feedback-informed treatment" (FIT). For those following me on Twitter–and if you’re not, please do so by clicking on the link–you already know that last week I was in Tunbridge, England for a two day training sponsored by the Kent-Medway National Healthcare Trust on "Supershrinks: Learning from the Fields… — read more
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Problems in Evidence-Based Land: Questioning the Wisdom of "Preferred Treatments"
This last week, Jeremy Laurance, Health Editor for the U.K. Independent published an article entitled, “The big question: Does cognitive therapy work? And should the NHS (National Health Service) provide more of it?” Usually such questions are limited to professional journals and trade magazines. Instead, it ran in the “Life and Style” section of one of Britain’s… — read more
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Outcomes in New Zealand
Made it back to Chicago after a week in New Zealand providing training and consultation. As I blogged about last Thursday, the last two days of my trip were spent in Christchurch providing a two-day training on "What Works" for Te Pou–New Zealand’s National Centre of Mental Health Research, Information, and Workforce Development. Last year… — read more
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Deliberate Practice, Expertise, & Excellence
Later today, I board United flight 908 on my way to workshops scheduled in Holland and Belgium. My routine in the days leading up to an international trip is always the same. I slowly gather together the items I’ll need while away: computer (check); european electric adapter (check); presentation materials (check); clothes (check). And, oh yeah, two decks of playing cards… — read more
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Why ongoing, formal feedback is critical for improving outcomes in healthcare
Not long ago, I had a rather lengthy email exchange with a well-known, high profile psychotherapist in the United States. Feedback was the topic. We both agreed that feedback was central to successful psychotherapy. We differed, however, in terms of method. I argued for the use of simple, standardized measures of progress and alliance (e.g., ORS and SRS). In support… — read more
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The Crown Jewel of Research on CDOI: Professor Jan Blomqvist receives 2.9 million crown grant for RCT on feedback in Sweden
If you’ve been following me on Twitter, then you know that last week I was touring and teaching in different spots around Europe. First, I presented two days in Copenhagen. Then I keynoted the British Association of Counseling and Psychotherapy Conference in Newcastle, England. Early Saturday morning, I flew from London to Stockholm. My long time friend… — read more
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The Field, the Future, and Feedback
There is an old (but in many ways sad) joke about two clinicians–actually, the way I first heard the story, it was two psychiatrists. The point of the story is the same regardless of the discipline of the provider. Anyway, two therapists meet in the hallway after a long day spent meeting clients. One, the younger of… — read more
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Top Resources for Top Performers
Since the 1960’s, over 10,000 "how-to" book on psychotherapy have been published. I joke about this fact at my workshops, stating "Any field that needs ten thousand books to describe what it’s doing…surely doesn’t know what its doing!" I continue, pointing out that, "There aren’t 10,000 plus books on ‘human anatomy,’ for example. There are a handful! … — read more