Psychotherapy Scams?

BudFox · Apr 10, 2019 at 07:37 PM

I spent a small fortune on therapy and got nothing of value, plus one destructive experience. Many of my therapists used the same sorts of evasions, manipulations, snake oil come-ons, pseudoscientific language, fake diagnoses, etc that you describe. Some are more subtle than others.

No special corporation is needed. Therapists in individual private practice get away with murder. It's a poorly regulated profession that seems to attract psychologically unstable people, there are few consequences for failure and crazy behavior, no informed consent, yada yada yada.

BudFox · Apr 10, 2019 at 08:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sarahsweets

I dont mean to imply that psychiatrists are the only people who can diagnose or that mental illnesses all have or must have physical causes.

Psychiatrists have neither the education nor the inclination to find the biological causes of mental illness, of which there are dozens if not more. They do no objective testing before drugging the patient.

If they believe a patient's mental illness is mainly psycho-social, they will drug that patient too.

Most people woking in the MH system are operating from a medieval and warped paradigm. Totally backward. There are so many environmental factors contributing to mental illness these days, which psychiatrists and therapists know nothing about. Scary.

susannahsays · Apr 10, 2019 at 09:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WishfulThinker66

First off, one needs to establish what sort of therapist is conducting the treatment. Merely being called a 'therapist' is no guarantee that they are an actual psychologist. Don't make the mistake of assuming this as such. There are counselors out there sometimes with little more than a quick online seminar who practise therapy. There are those with some limited background in therapy like social workers and so on. As the client, you need to determine just who and what you are getting.

I came across what felt like an online therapy scam recently. The therapists turned out to be social work students. In other words, I was no more than their guinea pig to practise on. The infuriating part of this is that this was covered by the provincial health care plan - tax payers are paying for this farce.

And how was the therapy? It was a standard CBT therapy that was pretty much verbatim from the books I have read. What a waste of my time.

In the US, where OP is, therapy is a protected term. You have to be licensed in the state in which you practice to provide therapy - and not with some weird counseling diploma from an online seminar.

As for your bizarre opinion that only psychologists are qualified to provide therapy, that's not who provides the majority of therapy down here. Most therapists are master's level clinicians, not psychologists. And guess what - studies show no difference in outcomes associated with the type of license your therapist has. So you're just as well off with an LCSW (licensed clinical social worker) as with a PhD psychologist.

NP_Complete · Apr 10, 2019 at 11:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WishfulThinker66

I came across what felt like an online therapy scam recently. The therapists turned out to be social work students. In other words, I was no more than their guinea pig to practise on. The infuriating part of this is that this was covered by the provincial health care plan - tax payers are paying for this farce.

They have to learn/practice therapy somehow.

luvyrself · Apr 11, 2019 at 04:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by susannahsays

In the US, where OP is, therapy is a protected term. You have to be licensed in the state in which you practice to provide therapy - and not with some weird counseling diploma from an online seminar.

As for your bizarre opinion that only psychologists are qualified to provide therapy, that's not who provides the majority of therapy down here. Most therapists are master's level clinicians, not psychologists. And guess what - studies show no difference in outcomes associated with the type of license your therapist has. So you're just as well off with an LCSW (licensed clinical social worker) as with a PhD psychologist.

——-this is like saying you’d just as soon buy a Hyundai as a Mercedes Benz.. mental illness is so complicated. More years of training makes most people better qualified. Of course there are individual differences. Some individuals w less education are more responsible than some at higher levels.. I just despair at how difficult it is to seek out the right professionals. I think the whole system in the States needs to be revamped.

here today · Apr 11, 2019 at 06:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvyrself

——-this is like saying you’d just as soon buy a Hyundai as a Mercedes Benz.. mental illness is so complicated. More years of training makes most people better qualified. Of course there are individual differences. Some individuals w less education are more responsible than some at higher levels.. I just despair at how difficult it is to seek out the right professionals. I think the whole system in the States needs to be revamped.

I'm in the States, tried therapy for many years, with many different therapists. Left some when I thought I wasn't getting anywhere, stuck it out with some until it blew up in one way or another.

Because of the number of years, and therapists, and programs, that I tried -- and now, because of my age -- I think it's fair to say the system failed me. I've been out of therapy for almost 3 years, not doing very well but surviving. To what purpose I'm surviving I can't really say. Perhaps one will become clear before I die, perhaps not.

Myrto · Apr 11, 2019 at 06:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopdog

From what I have seen a cactus could do most of what therapists do.

and at least with a cactus, you don't get served platitudes, assumptions and judgment. I found more contentment gardening than I ever did doing therapy.

susannahsays · Apr 11, 2019 at 03:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvyrself

——-this is like saying you’d just as soon buy a Hyundai as a Mercedes Benz.. mental illness is so complicated. More years of training makes most people better qualified. Of course there are individual differences. Some individuals w less education are more responsible than some at higher levels.. I just despair at how difficult it is to seek out the right professionals. I think the whole system in the States needs to be revamped.

I have no idea what you mean with that analogy. I would never buy an expensive car.

The psychologists I have worked with (not as a client, in the workplace) were more unwell than the master's level therapists. I am not keen on psychologists personally for that reason.

Psychologists don't receive more training. They are in school for more years, but that is not the same as training. Their extra school time doesn't give them a leg up in terms of clinical acumen, except in regards to psychological testing. Most of it is just research, research, and more research. That has nothing to do with delivering therapy. Track down the curriculums of psychology programs if you don't believe me. They aren't in school for all those years learning how to therapize.

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