Very Bad Therapy

Latest Episodes:

40. Exploring Bad LGBTQ+ Therapy (with Dr. Joe Kort) Feb 17, 2020

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Today's guest Danny shares his outrageous experience of being told to urinate in a cup so his therapist could test if he was really gay. And that's just the beginning of the story. We also speak with Dr. Joe Kort to explore best practices for working with the LGBTQ+ community, the need for humility and curiosity in a time of rapidly changing relationships to identity, and the diagnoses that stigmatize and marginalize members of this population.

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39. Making Sense of Mean Therapy Feb 10, 2020

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Today's guest Kat shares her experience with a therapist who was unnecessarily cruel in her approach to treatment. In trying to make sense of this behavior, Carrie and Ben consider the research on how and when therapeutic relationships get fractured as a result of divergent interpretations of the same significant events in therapy.

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38. VBT in History (1960s): The Gloria Tapes Feb 03, 2020

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In 1964, Dr. Everett Shostrom had a brilliant idea: record short videos of the same person receiving therapy from three top psychologists. These videos are colloquially referred to as the Gloria tapes, and the story behind the therapy is astounding. Coercion, human ashtrays, lawsuits, Fritz Perls being a massive jerk, and more! This is episode seven in our monthly look at bad therapy through the decades.

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37. You Can Be a Therapist for $16 (with Jordan Dunbar) Jan 27, 2020

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In the UK, anyone with $16 can become a certified psychotherapist and begin seeing clients immediately. If this sounds surprising, imagine how clients feel when they have a bad experience and realize their therapist is not governed by any regulatory body. BBC presenter Jordan Dunbar joins us to share his own stories of bad therapy and his surprising findings from investigating the lack of regulation around UK mental health services.

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36. Please Renew Your License Jan 20, 2020

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In America, psychotherapist licensure requirements vary – often absurdly – from state to state. What does not vary is the need for periodic license renewal, an otherwise mundane fact that holds foreboding significance in our guest Dee's story. Join us for a surprisingly interesting exploration of licensure requirements and the consequences of practicing without authorization.

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35. What is Pastoral Counseling? (with The Reverend Meredith Harber) Jan 13, 2020

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The exploitation of uneven power and emotional vulnerability is, of course, not limited to the field of psychotherapy. Today's guest Megan shares her experience of very bad pastoral counseling, and we speak with the Reverend Meredith Harber to explore the nuances of Megan's story and what proper pastoral care looks like with a contemporary understanding of power dynamics, boundaries, and gender norms.

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Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness
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34. VBT in History (1950s): The DSM-I and Thou Jan 06, 2020

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The first Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-I) was published with the intention of creating standardized language for mental abnormalities. It was also basically a war department bulletin. The controversial compendium is responsible for many important contributions to the fields of psychiatry and psychotherapy, but it also legitimized new forms of oppression and stigmatization in the name of normalizing judgments. This is part six of twelve monthly episodes revisiting bad therapy through the decades.

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33. Boundary Entanglements Dec 30, 2019

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Today's story from T is a cautionary tale about a therapist causing harm by blurring boundaries around texting, personal space, and self-disclosure. Carrie and Ben attempt to hold space for T's experience while seeking a middle ground in their differing perspectives about her therapist's behavior. One thing is certain: if a therapist has a sexual dream about a client, the therapeutic relationship is not the place for processing.

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32. When No Therapy is Bad Therapy Dec 23, 2019

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The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. In today's episode, the absence of bad therapy is indeed evidence of bad therapy as our guest Eric joins us to discuss the impact of showing up for multiple sessions only to discover that the therapist is nowhere to be found. Plus, we talk about therapists going to prison, cars exploding, and Ben unveils the six-word joke that will single-handedly change the future of psychotherapy.

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

Donate to American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
Humor Associated With Positive Outcomes in Individual Psychotherapy
Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Tell Us Your Story

31. How Important is Therapist Attachment Style? (with Jon Hook) Dec 16, 2019

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Jon Hook, PhD student at Western Michigan University, is contributing to research on how the coding of session transcripts to determine therapist attachment styles can be used to facilitate better client outcomes. He joins us to discuss the significance of therapist attachment and shares his story as a client of two therapeutic alliances that were anything but securely attached.

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