Latest Episode:
Episode 48 - In Defense of Bad Therapy (with Angela Caldwell, LMFT)
This week’s story from Ashley has all the markings of bad family therapy. But did the interventions work? Ashley shares her experience as a teenager in crisis being threatened with inpatient care and alarms on her door, and Angela Caldwell makes us question everything we know about what constitutes good therapy. Is it OK to trick clients if it leads to successful outcomes?
Episode 46 - Curious Interventions
This week’s story from Alison is a throwback to high school and all of Carrie and Ben’s greatest fears around teenage embarrassment. We discuss interventions that are better left unsaid (telling an underage client to share romantic feelings with her softball coach) and others that have questionable validity (House-Tree-Person and Rorschach tests). Plus, what does modern science have to say about Instagram Face?
Episode 44 - Supporting Clients with Disabilities (with Joy Wolf, LCSW)
What should therapists know about working with individuals with disabilities? In this week’s episode, Joy Wolf joins us to share her personal story about two therapists who responded to her disability in very different yet similarly problematic ways. We also discuss the impact of privilege, therapist uncertainty, and the limitations in how we are trained to work with clients with disabilities.
Episode 43 - Specialization and Ethical Responsibility (with Curt Widhalm, LMFT)
This week’s captivating story from Paloma brings together themes of postpartum depression and therapist specialization. Paloma offers insight into the harmful impact of societal narratives about motherhood and Curt Widhalm rejoins the podcast to explain what specialization actually means – and when it’s just a marketing tool with dangerous consequences.
Episode 41 - Less Advice, More Transparency
This week’s story from Farah touches on many common themes of bad therapy: disempowerment, unsolicited advice, misrepresenting qualifications, and more. We explore how early-career therapists can be transparent about their lack of experience while still creating client buy-in, what research suggests about giving advice to clients, and the importance of feedback. Plus, Carrie reflects on the gender power dynamic on this podcast and between male therapists and female or non-binary clients. Stay tuned afterward for a teaser of the most recent VBT Patreon episode!
Episode 40 - Exploring Bad LGBTQ+ Therapy (with Dr. Joe Kort)
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.
Episode 39 - Making Sense of Mean Therapy
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.
Episode 37 - You Can Be a Therapist for $16 (with Jordan Dunbar)
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.
Episode 36 - Please Renew Your License
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.
Episode 35 - What is Pastoral Counseling? (with The Reverend Meredith Harber)
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.
Episode 33 - Boundary Entanglements
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.
Episode 32 - When No Therapy is Bad Therapy
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.
Episode 31 - How Important is Therapist Attachment Style? (with Jon Hook)
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.
Episode 30 - The Money Episode
Do client fees impact therapy outcomes? How should therapists talk with their clients about money? Should mental health care be a basic human right? We have lots of questions and few answers as today’s guest Arianne joins us to share her story of money tension in therapy. Plus, Carrie and Ben read listener mail, gripe about therapist Facebook groups, and debate the ethics of prioritizing income maximization over all else as a mental health professional.
Episode 27 - The Negative Effects of Therapy (with Jørgen A. Flor)
A small percentage of clients experience negative effects from therapy. Why is it so difficult for therapists to identify this phenomenon when reflecting on past or present work? Norwegian psychologist and author Jørgen A. Flor joins us to explore the myth of side-effect free therapy and discuss a moving story from today's guest Jamie about unambiguously harmful treatment.
Episode 26 - “If You Say Yes to This…”
"If you say yes to this, we'll have to end our therapeutic relationship." The context of this quote is explained in this week's episode about therapist self-disclosure, dual relationships, and a much-deserved misconduct report. Seriously y'all, be aware of how your social and political identities have the potential to impact clients and don't burst through boundaries like the Kool-Aid Man. Even Woebot gets sad when therapists act on self-interest.
Episode 24 - Misadventure Therapy (with Will Dobud, MSW)
Adventure therapy: nature, healing, strength, and camaraderie. And sometimes emotional abuse, strip searches, forced compliance, and more. What is happening in this niche of psychotherapy where our guest Will's story is simultaneously shocking to us and not at all surprising to those within the field? Join us and our expert guest Will Dobud on a truly compelling trek through the wilderness of adventure therapy.
Episode 23 - Very Bad Graduate School
On today's episode, our guest Ashley recalls her experience as a graduate psychology student looking for therapy in part to process feelings of disappointment with her education. We take this opportunity to get intimate with the research on graduate psychology programs and confront the elephant in the room: these programs don't seem to work. If you have ever doubted the usefulness of your graduate education, this episode is for you.
Episode 22 - A Clinic On Unprofessionalism (with Katie Vernoy, LMFT)
Professionalism in psychotherapy is often hard to define, but it probably doesn't include being twenty minutes late to a client's first session and sharing unwanted Bible passages. Katie Vernoy joins us in advance of the Therapy Reimagined Conference to share her knowledge and make sense of all the confusing therapist behavior we hear in today's interview with Ofra.
Episode 20 - When Therapists Need Therapy
Your therapist is having a bad day. Will this impact the quality of counseling? If you ask the therapist, probably not. But what does the research suggest about clients' perceptions of therapists who are riding the struggle bus? Today's guest Allison describes her increasingly bizarre experience with a clinician who wasn't quite able to bring her 'A' game to the counseling room.