Very Bad Therapy

In the 1930s, a handful of aspiring medical luminaries imagined that mental illness could be fixed by cutting into the brain. In this month's history exploration, Carrie and Ben seek to understand why this seemed like a good idea at the time and what led to the procedure being banned a few decades later. When the awarding of a Nobel Prize is subsequently considered "an astounding error of judgment...

Adventure therapy: nature, healing, strength, and camaraderie. And sometimes emotional abuse, strip searches, forced compliance, and more. What is happening in this niche of psychotherapy where our guest Will's story is simultaneously shocking to us and not at all surprising to those within the field? Join us and our expert guest Will Dobud on a truly compelling trek through the wilderness of adve...

On today's episode, our guest Ashley recalls her experience as a graduate psychology student looking for therapy in part to process feelings of disappointment with her education. We take this opportunity to get intimate with the research on graduate psychology programs and confront the elephant in the room: these programs don't seem to work. If you have ever doubted the usefulness of your graduate...

Professionalism in psychotherapy is often hard to define, but it probably doesn't include being twenty minutes late to a client's first session and sharing unwanted Bible passages. Katie Vernoy joins us in advance of the Therapy Reimagined Conference to share her knowledge and make sense of all the confusing therapist behavior we hear in today's interview with Ofra. Support Very Bad Therapy on Pat...

Dr. Ben "Manfred" Caldwell joins us in make-believe 1920s Berlin to discuss Max Eitingon and the surprising origins of psychotherapy supervision. We also explore examples of bad supervision, why contemporary supervision appears to have no impact on client outcomes, and what supervisors and supervisees can actually do to make our field better. This is episode three of twelve in our monthly series e...

Your therapist is having a bad day. Will this impact the quality of counseling? If you ask the therapist, probably not. But what does the research suggest about clients' perceptions of therapists who are riding the struggle bus? Today's guest Allison describes her increasingly bizarre experience with a clinician who wasn't quite able to bring her 'A' game to the counseling room. Do you have a stor...

Tricare is government managed health insurance given to United States military personnel and their dependents. It is also very confusing to understand, even for many of the providers themselves. As we learn from our guest Anna, this can lead to a frustrating search for helpful counseling. To make sense of the mystifying details of Anna's story - as well as all the acronyms - Julie Payne joins us t...

What is at the root of very bad therapy? The common feeling that something is lacking in the education, training, development, and services provided by psychotherapists is backed by a wealth of research supporting the notion that a paradigm shift is sorely needed. Dr. Scott Miller is leading this movement with his work in the areas of routine outcome monitoring and deliberate practice. VBT in Focu...

What constitutes bad termination? In the words of Justice Potter Stewart, "I shall not today attempt to further define [it]... But I know it when I see it." In today's episode, R shares their story of termination that we can clearly know to be bad. But is it unethical? Ben and Carrie search for answers and discuss a pantheoretical framework for good termination. Thank you for listening. All review...

Lewis Terman was one of the most influential innovators in educational psychology and IQ testing. He also believed that segregating and sterilizing "feebleminded" individuals - as determined by a biased paradigm of general intelligence - was the necessary path toward a better society. This is the second installment in our monthly series on very bad therapy through the decades. Show Notes: The Uses...

Young children need play - not interrogation - to help them learn and form relationships. Today's guest PJ recalls his experience as an eight-year-old with a therapist who chose not to use play therapy in favor of a more investigative approach. Next, child therapy expert Megan Costello discusses the nuance of play therapy and what went wrong in PJ's story. And for some reason, we introduce our new...

In 2019, there somehow exists at least one psychotherapist who feels that it is helpful to tell a female client that her entire gender is biologically predisposed to prefer domestic life to a professional career. We cringe-laugh our way through an engaging interview with Aviva before diving into the research on societal biases, gender norms, and gender matching in the therapeutic relationship. Cli...

Imagine a spectrum of unethical therapist conduct. Far, far toward the most extreme end, just before sexual coercion, are activities like grooming behavior and inappropriate physical touch. Our guest Jessica shares her dread-inducing story of working with a therapist who abused his power in ways that mental health professionals should only experience when reading ethics textbooks. Show Notes: Dona...

Adolescent girls should be sent to the country to prepare for housewifery and motherhood. So writes G. Stanley Hall, first president of the American Psychological Association, in 1904. This is the first in a series of monthly episodes exploring very bad therapy in the decades preceding the stories of today. Floating uteruses not included. Show Notes: Chapter XVII: Adolescent Girls and Their Educat...

Gathering client information: good. Transcribing client responses into a computer while facing a wall: not good. It is estimated that 34% of clients don't return after their first session, a strong indication that the traditional intake model is in need of repair. Dr. Daryl Chow joins us to discuss our guest Bryan's bad intake experience, the importance of focusing intakes on giving rather than ta...

Today's episode is a deep dive into the nuances of harm reduction therapy. How does stigmatization, politicization, and cultural bias regarding substance use influence the way mental health professionals view and work with their clients? What happens when abstinence is not a client's preferred option? Also, Ben and Carrie say hello to Sweden! Show Notes: Donate to Harm Reduction Coalition What Doe...

The quality of the therapeutic alliance is one of the largest predictors of successful therapy. What doesn't help with building rapport? 25 minutes of paperwork to begin every session. Today's guest Meredith shares her challenges in working with a therapist who failed to convey appropriate messages of empathy but felt very strongly about the positive impact of collecting sticks from the ground. Sh...

Societal messages around health, beauty, and body image can contribute to problems that lead individuals to seek out therapy. But what happens when the therapist herself is unaware of how these cultural influences impact how treatment is provided? Our guest Holly shares her story about working with a therapist who reinforced unhealthy disordered eating behaviors under the guise of helpful therapy....

Today's episode features a story about a therapist who pleaded with her client to help with research for her Master's thesis. We discuss why this is objectively problematic and look at the difference between boundary crossing and boundary violation in the context of inherent power dynamics within the therapeutic relationship. Plus, Carrie and Ben share their own absurd experiences of very bad ther...

In Zimbabwe, hastily trained "Grannies" were found to be significantly better at treating depression than the standard of care that best resembles Western psychotherapy. Ben and Carrie put on their researcher hats to explore how lessons from Friendship Benches in Africa reflect the need for a mental health paradigm shift around the world. Ben says thank you for taking care of his feelings. Show No...

Therapists are not supposed to tackle their clients*. But what are the ethical limitations in trying to prevent a potential suicide attempt? Today's guest Katherine recounts her experience with a caring clinician who went to extreme lengths to protect her safety, and Dr. Ben Caldwell shares his expertise to help us understand how therapists should manage delicate yet ambiguous situations with clie...

Dr. Dana Stone joins us to unpack our guest Carol's experience with a therapist who chose a stance of defensiveness following a rather shocking microaggression. How can we become not just better clinicians, but better human beings as well? Any why might some therapeutic ruptures ultimately serve to benefit the client? Show Notes: Cultural Humility: Measuring Openness to Culturally Diverse Clients...

If a person claims to be gay, should you ever doubt them? Ben shares his story about winning $50 betting on his own sexual orientation, our guest Shaw tells us what it's like to debate your therapist about same-sex attraction not being a symptom of sexual assault, and we look at research that links sexual trauma to sexual identity. Show Links: Does Maltreatment in Childhood Affect Sexual Orientati...

EMDR is a groundbreaking, controversial, and maybe not-that-special psychotherapy treatment. We explore the research on its mechanisms and effectiveness before hearing from our guest Justin about his EMDR experience with an overeager therapist. Then, Curt Widhalm, LMFT, EMDR certified, and cohost of The Modern Therapist's Survival Guide sits down with us to answer our questions about EMDR and high...

Carrie and Ben share why they decided to start a podcast about bad therapy. What can be learned from our guests' varied experiences in the counseling room? How will this podcast be helpful to listeners with an interest in therapy? These are conversations that are rarely held within the field of psychotherapy. Thank you for listening. Show Links: https://www.verybadtherapy.com https://www.facebook....