Saving Talk Therapy

A hard-hitting critique of how managed care and the selective use of science to privilege quick-fix therapies have undermined in-depth psychotherapy—to the detriment of patients and practitioners In recent decades there has been a decline in the quality and availability of psychotherapy in America that has gone largely unnoticed—even though rates of anxiety, depression, and suicide are on the rise. In Saving Talk Therapy, master therapist Dr. Enrico Gnaulati presents powerful case studies from his practice to remind patients and therapists alike how and why traditional talk therapy works and, using cutting-edge research findings, unpacks the problematic incentives in our health-care system and in academic psychology that explain its decline. Beginning with a discussion of the historical development of talk therapy, Dr. Gnaulati goes on to dissect the factors that have undermined it. Psychotropic drugs, if no longer thought of as a magical cure, are still over-prescribed and shunt health-care dollars to drug corporations. Managed-care companies and mental health “carve outs” send health-care dollars to administrators, drive many practitioners away, and over-burden those who remain. And drawing back the curtains on CBT (cognitive behavior therapy), Dr. Gnaulati shows that while it might be effective in the research lab, its findings are of limited use for the people’s complex, real-world emotional problems. Saving Talk Therapy is a passionate and deeply researched case for in-depth, personally transformative psychotherapy that incorporates the benefits of an evidence-based approach and psychotropic drugs without over-relying on them.

A comprehensive guide to the growing area of expressive techniques in therapy. Many clients and practitioners are searching for therapeutic techniques that go beyond traditional talk therapy to tap into the healing potentials found within the body, creative expression, and the spirit. These techniques include areas such as art, dance, yoga, music, drama, theatre and ritual.

Weaving practical, hands-on ideas with theory and research about child development, child treatment, and the therapeutic relationship, this book describes an innovative approach to treatment of children and adolescents who won't or can't respond to traditional, conversation-based therapy. For these children, therapists need an entirely new clinical language, one that doesn't depend on words. Within an interpersonal and developmental framework, Straus spells out the deceptively simple goals of no-talk therapy: someone to be close to, and something to be proud of. Through empathy and respect, games, activities, community involvement, a circle of adults, and little pleasures, this approach begins to provide these anxious, sullen, enraged, and confused kids with the self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-awareness to develop a voice of their own.

It is a troubling time to be a therapist. Despite decades of powerful evidence that psychotherapy works, and tremendous advances in both policy and technology making therapy available to more of those who need it, the number of people actually going to therapy is flat or even declining. While training to be a therapist continues to get more expensive, therapists' salaries aren't even keeping up with inflation.Saving Psychotherapy addresses some of the troubling realities behind these truths. There is strong data to suggest:- The field avoids claiming meaningful values, leaving clients uncertain about the kind of guidance and support - if any - they will receive- The modern training process for therapists rewards wealth much more than merit- Many therapists express an open hostility to science and knowledge, even when it supports our work- There is little accountability for therapists to ever prove that they know what they're doing- Therapists are generally uninvolved in public debate, freely giving up their roles as society's experts on mental health and positive changePsychotherapy deserves a brighter future than the one we're on track for. And the first step toward getting that brighter future is for individual therapists at all career levels to take personal responsibility for it. In this data-driven, unflinching, and relentlessly optimistic look at the state of psychotherapy today, you will learn simple steps any therapist can take to make your practice more reputable and successful -- while improving the health and reputation of the entire field.

This book is an introduction to critical existential-analytic psychotherapy. It has been written as a response to what is considered to be a crisis point in what is currently taken as psychotherapeutic knowledge. A focus point is the relentless move in psychotherapy and psychotherapy trainings towards evidence-based practice. It is suggested that such developments can be usefully challenged if we are to consider: Can starting with theory be a form of violence? Should a primacy be given to practice? Does reliance on empirical research mean we start from the wrong place? From a critical existential-analytic psychotherapeutic perspective, the answer to all three of these questions is ‘yes’. This perspective, therefore, is fundamentally different from what psychological therapists are increasingly purporting to do, and further challenges other current notions from diagnosis and treatment to dominant discourses in psychology. The aim of this book is to consider some ways in which the psychological therapies might be able to move away from the crisis mainly caused by what is currently wrongly being understood in terms of ‘evidence-based practice’ as the nature of psychotherapeutic knowledge. Instead, it is proposed that primacy be given to: practice, considering theories having implications rather than applications, and privileging thoughtfulness with notions of research being seen more as cultural practices. This book is based on a special issue of the European Journal of Psychotherapy& Counselling.

This book brings together a global community of mental health professionals to offer an impassioned defence of relationship-based depth psychotherapy. Expressing ideas that are integral to the mission of the Psychotherapy Action Network (PsiAN), the authors demonstrate a shared vision of a world where this therapy is accessible to all communities. They also articulate the difficulties created by the current mental health diagnostic system and differing conceptualizations of mental distress, the shortsightedness of evidence-based care and research, and the depreciation of depth therapy by many stakeholders. The authors thoughtfully elucidate the crucial importance of therapies of depth, insight, and relationship in the repertoire of mental health treatment and speak to the implications of PsiAN’s mission both now and in the future. With a distinguished international group of authors and a clear focus on determining a future direction for psychotherapy, this book is essential reading for all psychotherapists.

The standard view of psychotherapy as a treatment for mental disorders can obscure how therapy functions as a social practice that promotes conceptions of human well-being. Building on the philosophy of Charles Taylor, Smith examines the link between therapy and ethics, and the roots of therapeutic aims in modern Western ideas about living well. This is one of two complementary volumes (the other being Therapeutic Ethics in Context and in Dialogue). This volume explores the links between therapeutic aims and conceptions of well-being. It examines several cognitive-behavioral and psychoanalytic therapies to illustrate how they can be distinguished by their divergent ethics. Smith argues that because research utilizing standard measures of efficacy shows little difference between the therapies, the assessment of their relative merits must include evaluation of their distinct ethical visions. A key text for upper level undergraduates, postgraduate students, and professionals in the fields of psychotherapy, psychoanalysis, theoretical psychology, and philosophy of mind.

Presents a comprehensive guide to action-centered methods that go beyond words (e.g., dance, art, yoga, drama, or ritual). allowing clients to express emotions more freely and often leading to newer and deeper insights. Each chapter focuses on a different technique, describes its theoretical underpinnings, and summarizes research on its effectiveness.

Morton Kondracke never intended to wed Millicent Martinez, but the fiery daughter of a radical labor organizer eventually captured his heart. They married, raised two daughters, and loved and fought passionately for twenty years. Then, in 1987, Milly noticed a glitch in her handwriting, a small tremor that would lead to the shattering diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Saving Milly is Kondracke’s powerfully moving chronicle of his vital and volatile marriage, one that has endured and deepened in the face of tragedy; it also follows his own transformation from careerist to caregiver and activist, a man who will “fight all the way, without pause or rest, to ‘save’ his beloved Milly.” * (* Linda Bowles, The Washington Times)

Diabetes is riddled with expenses--but within this book are the best ways to save on those expenses when living on a low income. Completely updated to address current topics and issues that reflect our changing society and health care needs, it includes information on: Ways to slash food costs Government assistance with medications Specialized prescription discount cards from drug companies How to save on syringes and test strips