Therapist’s blogs Part II: GoodTherapy

[Mary S]

The GoodTherapy therapist’s blog site is at http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/. Currently, there seem to be about two posts each weekday. The site does allow comments on blogs. There are a number of bloggers; topics range widely. The quality also seems to vary.

One blog post that is unusually client-friendly is 50 Warning Signs of Questionable Therapy and Counseling ( http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/warning-signs-of-bad-therapy/ ), posted February 12, 2008 by Noah Rubenstein. It still gets comments. It’s a good place to look at now and then to be supportive of therapy clients who have had bad experiences. It’s easy to find by searching on 50 questionable therapy.  

Most comments on the 50-warning-signs post are by clients, but some therapists have chimed in, too. One (Kelly Crossing) seemed to me to be willing to listen to clients and try to see their point of view more than most therapists I have encountered. She spoke from the point of view of someone who found therapy extremely helpful herself. However, after awhile, she dropped out of the discussion and posted a blog entry 50 Signs of Good Therapy ( http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/50-signs-good-therapy-0110119/ ), which may be worth reading (and perhaps leaving a comment on).

Another therapist who commented on the 50-warning-signs blog was Darren Haber. On his Good Therapy profile (http://www.goodtherapy.org/therapists/profile/darren-haber-20091204 ), he says, “I am not a cookie-cutter, one size fits all therapist. I respect the intelligence and sensitivity of each client.” Yet in a comment (April 23rd, 2012 at 11:06 AM ) on the 50-warning-signs blog ), he says one thing a prospective client should ask themself about a prospective therapist is, “Does this person seem attentive, empathic, CURIOUS? (Curiousity is key, the therapist I think has to be interested in you and what’s going on, not sit there like a statue, who wants that.)” I agree with the attentive, empathic, not sitting there like a statue parts . However “curious” sounds to me like a one-size-fits-all cookie cutter approach -- one that doesn’t fit me, in particular. I would certainly hope that a therapist would be open minded and listen carefully to (and respect) the client’s perspective, but for me personally, pursuing curiosity shows a lack of empathy for me (although it might show empathy for someone else – people are not all made from the same cookie cutter!). In fact, my experience in therapy is that therapists often push aside things that are important to me, in favor of pursuing their interest.

At the other extreme is a Good Therapy blog I saw a few years ago with title something like “Introverts Are Relationship Breakers”. As the title suggests, it was very prejudiced against introverts. I can’t find it now, so hope it was taken down.

Another example that strikes me as good but not as good as it could be is One Size Doesn’t Fit All When It Comes to Treatment, at http://www.goodtherapy.org/blog/treatment-approach-cbt-depression-0703125#comment-429150

[Sylvester McMonkey McBean]

thanks for the links mary.

looking at the 50 signs of bad thereapy, and this one stood out to me:

Therapist “feeds you fish, rather than helping you to fish for yourself.”

i reckon this happens in a lot of therapy-client relationships and leads to a lot of dependency on the T.  looking back over the years, i think my T did this more times than not. there are not too many instances that i can think of where he actually taught me to fish, but it has felt more often than not that he was only throwing meager crumbs at me to satiate me from session to session to get me hooked and to come back over and over again for more.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Sylvester McMonkey McBean

[Eve B]

https://www.goodtherapy.org/what-is-good-therapy.html

The above article lists 9 elements to good therapy: non-pathologizing, empowering, collaborative, focus, self, relationship, depth, imperfection, and the recognition that sometimes therapists can't help. I can agree with it for the most part except the last element should've emphasized the need for therapists to be capable and more responsible for seeing early on when they can't help so as not to waste a client's time and money.