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In Reply to: Re: A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Measure posted by rssnyt on February 28, 2006 at 05:24:51:
Interesting article, but a little annoying in its condescending defense of therapy as art. No one has ever claimed that measuring treatment outcomes is enough. Numerous studies have shown that the greatest predictor of change is the quality of the therapeutic alliance between the therapist and client.
Yap about the "art" of therapy all you want, but someone has to pay for it. If you're paying for 100% of the cost of therapy out of your own pocket and you aren't making progress toward your treatment goals, it's fine with me if you want to pay for a empathic relationship that promises nothing & goes nowhere. There's a name for this in the mental health field, btw. It's called the Woody Allen Syndrome and treatment for the worried well.
If you're getting therapy on a co-pay while your insurance company is paying the rest, that means your employer and everyone in the insurance pool is picking up a hefty portion of your therapy bill. Sorry, bud, but I don't want to see my insurance premiums go up to pay for treatment that is doing you no appreciable good. No one is trying to turn therapy into a hard science. Evidence-based treatment simply requires the measurement of outcomes as a justification for continued treatment. It's reasonable to review outcomes to determine whether the treatment is achieving the goals you've set. Are you missing fewer days at work? Staying sober? Staying calmer and more focused? Fewer suicidal thoughts? If not, you should consider another treatment approach or therapist.
"It is not news that most symptoms of so-called mental illness are efforts to control the environment, just like the science that claims to study them."
Give me a break. When was the last time this therapist treated someone with schizophrenia, bipolar disease, or complex & co-morbid PTSD? Behavioral responses to these "so-called" mental illnesses are efforts to control the thoughts and moods of chemically imbalanced brains.
In the US, treatment for individuals disabled by brain diseases like schizophrenia, bipolar, or complex & comorbid PTSD is paid by the Medicaid program. As a taxpayer, I want to some assurance that people disabled by serious mental illness are getting treatment that works rather than being kept on a soul-destroying maintenance program of medication, cigarettes, and television.
This is because I KNOW that treatment works, and people with serious mental illnesses DO recover: they get jobs, live in safe & comfortable homes, and go out on Saturday night dates. As a taxpayer, I'm not willing to settle for less--or give artistic therapists an excuse to get fat feeding at the public trough while seriously mentally ill people fall through the cracks of an under-funded public treatment system.
