"It is not surprising that a materialist psychology champions quasi-medical solutions to mental health problems, and focuses on nonsensical symptom management techniques, and on ‘coping’. Coping is really just another word for ‘surviving’, and not living fully. The prevalent approaches to psychological suffering tell people that they ‘should’ be ‘happy’, or ‘OK’ regardless of whether or not they feel they are growing or that their life has any meaning."
Thank you for this, which gives me a perspective on what I have been observing from my perch as a parent and a teacher of young people. I am frankly aghast at what is going on where I live (Germany) in terms of therapeutic help for the children and teens with whom I share my time. The covid measures have left many of them despairing and yet they are expected to simply carry on as if the past three years did not happen. The "services" provided seem to consist primarily of CBT, where they are paired with the next available therapist (regardless of whether they like or trust the particular individual) to get them functional and back to school. Or they are sent to residential treatment and whisked away from everything and everyone that is meaningful to them for a kind of factory reset.
The success of these measures for the kids I know has been dismal when it comes to helping them rediscover their spark. They variously pick up on and internalize their supposed brokenness (the identity being handed to them by the adults) or are deemed uncooperative for rightly seeing through the nonsense and not going along with it. Yet instead of questioning the efficacy of the treatment, the children are implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, blamed for not properly responding.
"Any approach that focuses on symptoms in isolation from the context of the whole person and their reality, is doomed to fail."
Regrettably, this is exactly what IAPT services (NHS psychotherapy) do. Progress in therapy is defined in terms of the reduction of a patient's PHQ9 (questionnaire used as a measure of depression) or GAD7 (questionnaire used as a measure of anxiety) scores. These are religiously collected by therapists at the start of each therapy session to, supposedly, see how the patient is doing. I can only imagine that patients find this incredibly objectifying. I know that I would.
I think you would appreciate the book "CBT: The Cognitive Behavioural Tsunami: Managerialism, Politics and the Corruption of Science" by Farhad Dalal, which offers a multi-sided critique of CBT-based IAPT services. The breadth of Dalal's analysis and critique is impressive.
"It is not surprising that a materialist psychology champions quasi-medical solutions to mental health problems, and focuses on nonsensical symptom management techniques, and on ‘coping’. Coping is really just another word for ‘surviving’, and not living fully. The prevalent approaches to psychological suffering tell people that they ‘should’ be ‘happy’, or ‘OK’ regardless of whether or not they feel they are growing or that their life has any meaning."
Thank you for this, which gives me a perspective on what I have been observing from my perch as a parent and a teacher of young people. I am frankly aghast at what is going on where I live (Germany) in terms of therapeutic help for the children and teens with whom I share my time. The covid measures have left many of them despairing and yet they are expected to simply carry on as if the past three years did not happen. The "services" provided seem to consist primarily of CBT, where they are paired with the next available therapist (regardless of whether they like or trust the particular individual) to get them functional and back to school. Or they are sent to residential treatment and whisked away from everything and everyone that is meaningful to them for a kind of factory reset.
The success of these measures for the kids I know has been dismal when it comes to helping them rediscover their spark. They variously pick up on and internalize their supposed brokenness (the identity being handed to them by the adults) or are deemed uncooperative for rightly seeing through the nonsense and not going along with it. Yet instead of questioning the efficacy of the treatment, the children are implicitly, and sometimes explicitly, blamed for not properly responding.
"Any approach that focuses on symptoms in isolation from the context of the whole person and their reality, is doomed to fail."
Regrettably, this is exactly what IAPT services (NHS psychotherapy) do. Progress in therapy is defined in terms of the reduction of a patient's PHQ9 (questionnaire used as a measure of depression) or GAD7 (questionnaire used as a measure of anxiety) scores. These are religiously collected by therapists at the start of each therapy session to, supposedly, see how the patient is doing. I can only imagine that patients find this incredibly objectifying. I know that I would.
I think you would appreciate the book "CBT: The Cognitive Behavioural Tsunami: Managerialism, Politics and the Corruption of Science" by Farhad Dalal, which offers a multi-sided critique of CBT-based IAPT services. The breadth of Dalal's analysis and critique is impressive.
Brilliant. Honest. Unflinching and brave. Well said Avigail👍☘️