A provocative look at America on the couch.In Psychotherapy as Religion, William Epstein sets out to debunk claims that psychotherapy provides successful clinical treatment for a wide range of personal and social problems. He argues that the practice is not a science at all but rather the civil religion of America, reflecting the principles of radical self-invention and self-reliance deeply embedded in the psyche of the nation. Epstein begins by analyzing a number of clinical studies conducted over the past two decades that purport to establish the effectiveness of psychotherapeutic treatments. He finds that each study violates in some way the standard criteria of scientific credibility and that the field has completely failed to establish objective procedures and measurements to assess clinical outcomes. Epstein exposes psychotherapy’s deep roots in the religious and intellectual movements of the early nineteenth century by demonstrating striking parallels between various types of therapy and such popular practices as Christian Science and spiritualism. Psychotherapy has taken root in our culture because it so effectively reflects our national faith in individual responsibility for social and personal problems. It thrives as the foundation of American social welfare policy, blaming deviance and misery on deficiencies of character rather than on the imperfections of society and ignoring the influence of unequal and deficient social conditions while requiring miscreants to undergo the moral reeducation that psychotherapy represents. This is a provocative, brilliantly argued look at America on the couch. Psychotherapy as Religion is essential reading for anyone interested in the history and current state of mental health. (amazon) (accessible via scribd)
"In fact, there has never been a scientifically credible study that attests to the effectiveness of any form of psychotherapy for any mental or emotional problem under any condition of treatment." (ibid, p. 220) (quoted by Paul Moloney (2015), Psychology, Psychotherapy - Coming to Our Senses?, Chap 14, in Del Loewenthal, 2015, kindle location 4941/6943)
Paul Moloney 顛覆了心理治療這個中產階級的溫吞行業其信念屬 Midland Psychology Group 講的 Social Materialist Psychology 有回到社會主義 (請注意同情社會主義不等於親共) 和唯物論 (請注意唯物不等於無心) (只是那個心是血淋淋的汗流浹背的心不是戲論的心) 的傾向認為社會福利是初級預防對於頹唐喪志疏離至極的人他們需要有人聽到他們的聲音那時治療可以上場其他時候治療只是插花擺設混口飯吃這個顛覆符合我對心理治療的理解所以你可以理解理想中治療者的長相像是大樹的樹根他不過是識幾個字的勞動者他就是庶民沒有名字的沉默的生活著的庶民你去全聯家樂福彩卷行士林陽明戲院旁暗巷窯子會擦肩而過的庶民
