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Notes -
I went to the trouble of writing an effort post somewhere that was read by like 8 people, so I'll just reproduce the primary bit, and tack on additional commentary at the end.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychotherapy
The bolded section is the one I can't easily verify, at least not when it's 9 am and I've been up all night studying.
Specifically regarding CBT, I found the following metanalysis-
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23870719/
And when speaking of CBT as applied to more psychiatric conditions:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3584580/
Addressing the specific claims of similar efficacy to the forms of therapy based on pseudoscientific principles:
In the particular case of BPD, after talking to @Throwaway05 I looked into the actual benefit of DBT, and was surprised to see that it was genuinely far more effective than I expected. Somewhere around the ballpark of 50% success rates in curbing symptoms and letting quite a few of them lead entirely unremarkable and functional lives. If 50% sounds underwhelming, wait till you hear the typical cure rates I'm used to.
So:
A clear no. The evidence base is nigh unimpeachable, even if, as discussed above, the most bullshit insanity inducing forms like Freudian or Lacanian psychotherapy still beat placebo.
My personal working hypothesis is that therapy acts as a decent substitute for a friend, a non-judgemental and understanding one who has seemingly endless time to listen to your problems, and is forbidden, on the pain of losing the way they make a living, from disclosing your troubles. Unfortunately, quite a few people genuinely lack actual good friends, so even such as ersatz substitute has notable effects.
This is an entirely different question from the fad we've been having for quite a few years of "therapy culture", or the insistence of people to co-opt/misuse therapy speak to lend their bullshit legitimacy. Then again, there are practising Freudian and Lacanian therapists, and few other people seem to have the same burning urge I have to burn their houses down. Even then, I must concede they beat placebo, as well as the dead horse that is repressed penis envy.
Anyway, therapy seems to beat placebo, and works synergistically with drugs, even if you cynically notice that therapy based off nonsense does much the same thing as more considered approaches, but it's not in dispute that it works. At least I have the consolation of being able to throw drugs at people instead of just talking at them as a licensed shrink in training, for all the quibbling about if SSRIs work, ain't nobody claiming their ADHD isn't being helped when they're zooted up on stimulants.
To conclude, is therapy helpful when administered by someone who knows what the fuck they're doing? Yes.
Are they/us responsible for random idiots using it as an obfuscation technique? Not really, though the upper echelons of HR are often staffed by people with degrees in psychology where I'm at.
Is it possibly a net negative for the set of {all people subjected to mealy mouthed terminology}? No clue, but you asked about the actually mentally ill, and you have my answer. No surprise that a few of them pick up on the lingo.
This point is the whole thing. I notice here that a lot of people seem to have complaints about "endless therapy" and "never getting better," but reputable, well trained therapy involves a constant progression towards "being done" (well typically anyway).
I suspect this is equal parts misunderstanding and a surplus of shitty therapists, which makes sense since it's far harder to regulate, train, and assess than "traditional" medicine.
Small amounts of therapy that anyone with diligence and training can do (like motivational interviewing) can radical improve care for any specialty.
Shit is good when done well. And even more fluffy and "less evidence based" therapy modalities like psychodynamic therapy work great when done by someone who cares and knows what they are doing (and are shocking similar to CBT anyway).
But one tenet of therapy culture is that therapy is never done, that everyone should be seeing a therapist and that therapy is about not just treating dysfunction but becoming a "better person". This is what I identify about therapy culture - that for many people it is a system of morality, replacing traditional systems of morality.
I am sure that some people exist who feel this way, but all of the therapists I know (which is bounded by these people being mostly physicians, or PHD/PsyD psychologists), think that shit is nuts (and have much displeasure with the popular presentation of therapy, mental illness and so on).
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Indeed. When I need to send someone to a therapist, I tell them it's a sign of both confidence and competence when they make it clear that's there's a time limit for that. Either they note you making good progress, with an end goal in sight, or they tell you straight up that you're not a good fit and send you on.
Not that people can't need prolonged therapy, but maybe I'm just jaundiced from all the girls I've spoken to who should be wearing grippy socks. But they need Jesus, or his brother in the asylum.
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