Does anyone besides me think cognitive behavioral therapy is a load of horseshit?

[Ladyhawk]

I have reasons for thinking so, but after a quick look around the web, it seems I'm in the minority.

I was going to copy / paste a huge-ass paper I wrote, but for now I just want to know if I'm the only one whose bullshit detector went off.

Am I?

[laconicsax]

1. I had some sucess with it a while ago, but I'm not sold.

[Ladyhawk]

2. Why aren't you sold?

It's been used on me for years and I see no improvement. This week, I was told by both my psychiatrist and psychologist I had to believe in it for it to work.

Sound familiar? :)

[laconicsax]

7. I'm not sure that what was accomplished was a direct result of the therapy.

There were some big changes going on in my life outside of that therapy so I can't be sure that the CBT was a primary factor.

[Iggo]

11. Gotta belieeeeeeeeeeeve!

Say, that does sound familiar.

[Warpy]

3. I saw a great deal of success with it in a neuropsychiatry unit

at a VA hospital. These were people who had severe cognitive or behavioral impairment after a brain injury. The therapy didn't work for all of them, but when it did work, it was dramatic.

Drugs alone hadn't worked in these people.

[Ladyhawk]

4. Hmmm...no worky-worky for me. nt

[realisticphish]

5. Well

that's pretty much all evidence-based non-medicinal therapy. CBT isn't one treatment, it's a massive category of anything rooted in behavioral conditioning, etc. I'm sorry it didn't work for you; sometimes it doesn't. But as a general category it's very grounded in research.

That's not to say that the treatment that you received was well done, or justified. But CBT is hardly some crackpot fringe theory.

[Odin2005]

6. I get it and I like it. No woo involved.

[Jokerman]

8. Not at all.

Not all therapists are effective and not all patients respond, but that doesn't mean that the entire concept is wrong.

[Evoman]

9. No way, man.

It's awesome.

As a kid, I was really hot tempered and very anxious. Around my teenage years, I started reading about cognitive therapy. Gave me a power over my thoughts and emotions that I never thought I could have.

I many sound like an angry guy on DU, but that's just a persona. I completely changed my attitude thanks to Cog. Therapy. I also really recommend Feeling Good by Dr. Burns to anybody who is feeling depression. A combination of cognitive therapy and med has really made a difference in the lives of people I know.

[tbyg52]

10. If I correctly understand what it is, it seems reasonable to me. nt

[enki23]

12. you prefer psychodynamic bs?

.

[Skunk Totem]

13. Not quite horseshit, but definitely a sacred cow

Hello, Ladyhawk

I ran across your post in my Google search for documents on CBT’s adverse effects. I’ll stop short of calling CBT “horseshit,” because it does work for some people. However - make that a big however - it disturbs me how the mental-health community seems to hold the techniques above reproach. Sensible health practitioners don’t see drugs that way; they recognize their benefits and risks. Likewise for nutritionists: peanut butter is a high-quality food, but for some people allergic to it, it might as well be cyanide. Therapists: hypnotism works well for some people but is useless with others.

I tend to reject cover-up, suppress-the-enemies conspiracy theories, but I have to fight the temptation to make an exception for CBT (including and perhaps especially Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy). Instead, the real trouble I see is in its basis in correcting “wrong” thoughts and an implicit belief that if it doesn’t work for you, it is because of your thinking is pathological. Psychologist Dr. Thomas Szasz once said, “(The patient’s) words (become) the semantic exudates of his disease, to be examined, not heeded.”

I survived extreme and prolonged psychological abuse in childhood. That includes pseudopsychological verbal abuse from my mother and one teacher in particular. At least I knew the schoolyard taunts were bullshit. CBT sessions have had me leaving the doctor’s office feeling much worse than when I went in, beset with posttraumatic flashbacks. At first I internalized it; now I realize that it was the technique, not me, not even the practitioner. But my current caseworker seems closed to any alternatives (see previous paragraph). Though not a cure, my antidepressant and anti-anxiety meds have been more helpful.

At this point, I’d rather try acupuncture - if I could afford it.

[jimspeer]

14. It's the only form of talking therapy

that research has shown to be effective.

[NMMNG]

15. Not for everyone as it takes some effort,

but definitely not BS.

[Skunk Totem]

16. If it didn't work for you, comfort is hard to find

I might have given CBT too little credit in my previous post and the therapist too much.

Nonetheless, those who have not benefited from (or got worse after) CBT feel isolated, especially since papers on the adverse effects of CBT make hen's teeth seem commonplace. At least in my case, saying it wasn't helping got thrown back at me in the form of blame. Not good for anyone prone to self-castigation.

At least the likes of Ladyhawk and I will know they are not alone if they come across this thread via Google (as I did).