"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.
Absolutely agree. Thank you for reading and commenting A.L. I find it especially awful when I observe what goes on in schools here and the kind of ‘help’ that children and young people are getting. You could not have said it better.
You say: “ 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.”
I couldn’t agree more and you might as well be talking about Scotland and the rest of the UK. Everything you describe is the same as here. CBT should not be offered to anyone, let alone children and young people. We might as well just tell them outright that life is awful and they have nothing to look forward to except just ‘coping’… It’s a crime against humanity, quite literally in the sense that it is deeply harmful and offensive to what makes us human .
Have you read my ‘Therapy Without A Therapist’? Supporting children and young people is not difficult and any adult can make a massive difference to young people. Children and young people as you no doubt know are just mirroring their environment, and all they need to hear all the time is that what they feel is absolutely OK. In other words, their inner experience needs to be validated. It is crucial to their brain development, and makes them feel seen, felt, and heard. This is an important part of what every young human needs in order to develop well. I am sure you know what I mean. Thank you so much again for reading and for your important comment.
"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.
Thank you Adam, for reading, and for your comment. You highlight something I have heard before from therapists working for IAPT. They all said that they knew what they were doing wasn’t what the clients needed but that they had to do it, because they needed their job. It made me reflect on the reason I went to private practice straight out of therapy school. I always knew I didn’t want to work for anyone, because I didn’t want to compromise. Private practice is not for everyone, and it does come with financial challenges, compared with a salaried job. But I never regretted it. It is very painful to hear from client after client, what they have encountered when they sought help from NHS Psychology Highland. Much the same as IAPT in England, only worse, because most people stay on the waiting list for over two years. When they finally get there, they are offered EMDR and CBT… We have to change this. I have Dalal’s book, and have read some of it, but not finished yet. Excellent and timely. Not sure anyone is listening those except those of us who already agree… Thank you again!
"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.
Absolutely agree. Thank you for reading and commenting A.L. I find it especially awful when I observe what goes on in schools here and the kind of ‘help’ that children and young people are getting. You could not have said it better.
You say: “ 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.”
I couldn’t agree more and you might as well be talking about Scotland and the rest of the UK. Everything you describe is the same as here. CBT should not be offered to anyone, let alone children and young people. We might as well just tell them outright that life is awful and they have nothing to look forward to except just ‘coping’… It’s a crime against humanity, quite literally in the sense that it is deeply harmful and offensive to what makes us human .
Have you read my ‘Therapy Without A Therapist’? Supporting children and young people is not difficult and any adult can make a massive difference to young people. Children and young people as you no doubt know are just mirroring their environment, and all they need to hear all the time is that what they feel is absolutely OK. In other words, their inner experience needs to be validated. It is crucial to their brain development, and makes them feel seen, felt, and heard. This is an important part of what every young human needs in order to develop well. I am sure you know what I mean. Thank you so much again for reading and for your important comment.
"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.
Thank you Adam, for reading, and for your comment. You highlight something I have heard before from therapists working for IAPT. They all said that they knew what they were doing wasn’t what the clients needed but that they had to do it, because they needed their job. It made me reflect on the reason I went to private practice straight out of therapy school. I always knew I didn’t want to work for anyone, because I didn’t want to compromise. Private practice is not for everyone, and it does come with financial challenges, compared with a salaried job. But I never regretted it. It is very painful to hear from client after client, what they have encountered when they sought help from NHS Psychology Highland. Much the same as IAPT in England, only worse, because most people stay on the waiting list for over two years. When they finally get there, they are offered EMDR and CBT… We have to change this. I have Dalal’s book, and have read some of it, but not finished yet. Excellent and timely. Not sure anyone is listening those except those of us who already agree… Thank you again!
"Not sure anyone is listening those except those of us who already agree…" Yes, unfortunately. I had the same reflection!
Brilliant. Honest. Unflinching and brave. Well said Avigail👍☘️