Latest Episode:
Episode 54 - How Much Therapy is Necessary?
This week’s guest Adam shares his experience of seeing a therapist for five years without any noticeable benefit. When should clients – or therapists – start to wonder if it’s time to end the therapeutic relationship? As it turns out, there’s a lot of research suggesting that therapists need to do much more than simply wait for their approach to start working…including accepting the likelihood of treatment failure.
Episode 52 - On Grief and Loss (with Dr. Michael Morad-McCoy)
Conversations about death, dying, and bereavement can be difficult, but they are often an important part of the therapeutic process. Dr. Michael Morad-McCoy joins us to share his experiences with “not very helpful” clinicians who were unable or unwilling to explore dark areas, and we discuss how therapists can best support their clients in a time of ubiquitous grief and loss.
Episode 49 - Radical Acceptance of Clients (with Dr. Nathan Castle)
Therapist defensiveness is a recurring theme in stories of bad therapy. In this week’s episode, Suzanne shares her experience with a therapist whose defensiveness was expressed in gratuitous displays of power and dismissive remarks. Plus, Dr. Nathan Castle rejoins the show to explore the topics of defensiveness, radical acceptance of clients, and the importance of transparency.
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 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.
How Should Therapists Respond to Coronavirus?
An urgent conversation about the role of therapists in doing the most public good during the coronavirus outbreak. Pat Wiita, MD and Farah Zerehi, MS explore the science, needed actions, and social justice implications of the pandemic, and Ben Caldwell, PsyD discusses what you need to know about shifting your practice to telehealth services. Please share this episode anywhere you feel it might make an impact.
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 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 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 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 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 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 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 19 - How Military Mental Health Care Works (with Julie Payne, LMFT)
Tricare is government managed health insurance given to United States military personnel and their dependents. It is also very confusing to understand, even for many of the providers themselves. As we learn from our guest Anna, this can lead to a frustrating search for helpful counseling. To make sense of the mystifying details of Anna's story - as well as all the acronyms - Julie Payne joins us to discuss everything you ever wanted to know about military mental health care.
Episode 15 - Child's Play (with Megan Costello, LMFT)
Young children need play - not interrogation - to help them learn and form relationships. Today's guest PJ recalls his experience as an eight-year-old with a therapist who chose not to use play therapy in favor of a more investigative approach. Next, child therapy expert Megan Costello discusses the nuance of play therapy and what went wrong in PJ's story. And for some reason, we introduce our new sure-to-fail concept: The Richard Spencer Matrix for Therapists.
Episode 11 - The Intake Process is a Mess (with Dr. Daryl Chow)
Gathering client information: good. Transcribing client responses into a computer while facing a wall: not good. It is estimated that 34% of clients don’t return after their first session, a strong indication that the traditional intake model is in need of repair. Dr. Daryl Chow joins us to discuss our guest Bryan’s bad intake experience, the importance of focusing intakes on giving rather than taking, and we explore how psychotherapists can achieve better outcomes over the long-term future.
Episode 10 - On Harm Reduction Therapy (with Lauren Cohn-Frankel, AMFT)
Today's episode is a deep dive into the nuances of harm reduction therapy. How does stigmatization, politicization, and cultural bias regarding substance use influence the way mental health professionals view and work with their clients? What happens when abstinence is not a client's preferred option? Also, Ben and Carrie say hello to Sweden!
Episode 8 - Projections of Body Image Bias (with Rachel Coleman, LMFT, CEDS)
Societal messages around health, beauty, and body image can contribute to problems that lead individuals to seek out therapy. But what happens when the therapist herself is unaware of how these cultural influences impact how treatment is provided? Our guest Holly shares her story about working with a therapist who reinforced unhealthy disordered eating behaviors under the guise of helpful therapy.
Episode 5 - Please Don't Tackle Your Clients (with Dr. Ben Caldwell)
Therapists are not supposed to tackle their clients*. But what are the ethical limitations in trying to prevent a potential suicide attempt? Today's guest Katherine recounts her experience with a caring clinician who went to extreme lengths to protect her safety, and Dr. Ben Caldwell shares his expertise to help us understand how therapists should manage delicate yet ambiguous situations with clients.
Episode 4 - Race, Rupture, and Repair (with Dr. Dana Stone)
Dr. Dana Stone joins us to unpack our guest Carol's experience with a therapist who chose a stance of defensiveness following a rather shocking microaggression. How can we become not just better clinicians, but better human beings as well? Any why might some therapeutic ruptures ultimately serve to benefit the client?