saving psychotherapy Archives - Psychotherapy Notes

Therapy Reimagined: A different kind of conference

October 1, 2018 by Ben Caldwell

This Friday and Saturday, I will be presenting at the Therapy Reimagined conference in Los Angeles. It’s a different kind of conference from any I’ve spoken at before, and I can’t wait. You should be there.

Different by design

Academic and professional conferences tend to focus on research and clinical application. Those are obviously critically important for keeping your practice up to date. But those conferences don’t tend to talk broadly about what it means to work in mental health. In other words, most conferences are more about doing therapy, and less about being a therapist.

Saving Psychotherapy: An interview with Scott Miller

April 4, 2018April 4, 2018 by Ben Caldwell

We’re big fans of Scott Miller and his Top Performance Blog around here. Miller has allowed his career to be guided by emerging research, a trait that is surprisingly rare in the psychotherapy world. It has led him to some very useful conclusions about how we can become more effective. Deliberate practice and using outcome data are two specific things that we all could do that would almost certainly improve our outcomes.

There are many things about his work to admire. But what I appreciate most is his skill at walking the difficult line between being alarmist — it’s kind of a big deal that therapy outcomes haven’t gotten better in 40 years — and being supportive and uplifting for therapists who are doing their own part individually to improve. So it was an honor to meet him at the 2017 Evolution of Psychotherapy Conference, and to have him interview me earlier this year for his blog.

How did we get here? Part 1: 3,000 hours

September 27, 2017 by Ben Caldwell

In every state, and for every psychotherapist license, there is a supervised experience requirement. Those requirements differ a bit from state to state and between license types, but they all hover around the same place: two years of full-time experience or the equivalent, typically operationalized as 3,000 hours. Where did that standard come from, and how has it changed over time? You may be surprised.

It’s nearly 100 years old.

Prove yourself: Accountability is changing mental health care

August 28, 2017 by Ben Caldwell

We can’t say we didn’t see this coming. In the first edition of The Heart and Soul of Change: What Works in Therapy, published in 1999, authors Mark Hubble, Barry Duncan, and Scott Miller predicted that psychotherapists would soon be facing a new era of accountability for their work. Clients, payors, and policymakers would all demand hard evidence that psychotherapy was effective. That era is well underway, and so far we have provided a wealth of the kind of information these parties have demanded.

We can demonstrate that therapy works as an overall conclusion, and within the contexts of specific problems and populations. Proving the effectiveness of specific models has been helpful in many ways (showing that model-based treatment is superior to no treatment) and enlightening in others (showing that, for most problems, the model of therapy has little to no impact on outcome). The brain research discussed by Siegel, Cozolino, and others explains why therapy works. Psychotherapy in general is being held accountable, and it is passing the test with flying colors.

The same cannot be said of specific therapists, or of therapy training programs – yet.

See me at the 2016 AAMFT Annual Conference

September 7, 2016September 7, 2016 by Ben Caldwell

I’ll be presenting multiple times at this year’s AAMFT Annual Conference in Indianapolis. Come see me at any of the following:

Networking Luncheon

Friday, 12:30p-2:00p
Benjamin Caldwell

We have decades of data proving that psychotherapy works. But data also shows that spending on therapy is rapidly declining — fewer people are coming — as training costs and requirements increase. MFTs at all career levels are impacted by these trends, which are already pushing some well-qualified therapists out of the field. Ben Caldwell hosts this fast-paced, data-driven, and ultimately optimistic presentation that will outline the specific steps MFTs can take on an individual basis to improve their own practices, while saving our field from becoming one by and for the wealthy.