The recent history of “science” in psychotherapy
Summary
TLDRLeah Benson, a licensed psychotherapist, discusses the marketing challenges faced by therapists and her journey from embracing outdated pseudoscience to discovering more accurate, modern theories. She admits to initially using the polyvagal theory and 'The Body Keeps the Score' to market her services, but later realizes their inaccuracy. Benson now advocates for the importance of understanding 21st-century brain science to empower clients and improve therapy outcomes, warning against therapists who cling to outdated beliefs.
Takeaways
- 📚 Leah Benson is a licensed body-based psychotherapist, coach, and psychedelic guide who discusses the marketing challenges faced by therapists.
- 🎯 Therapists often use outdated pseudo-science to legitimize and market their services, which Leah herself admits to having done in the past.
- 🧠 Leah acknowledges the shift in therapy trends from long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy to evidence-based practices like cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
- 📈 The popularity of CBT is attributed to its structured, repeatable protocols and shorter treatment duration, which are seen as more marketable.
- 💡 Leah discusses the pressure on therapists to market themselves effectively, especially in the digital age where potential clients search for services online.
- 🔍 She highlights the importance of using keywords and scientific jargon to rank higher in search results and attract clients.
- 🌟 Leah found bioenergetic analysis as a therapy modality that aligns with her desire to integrate the body into therapy and has a scientific basis.
- 📚 The release of 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel van der Kolk further legitimized body-based psychotherapy and helped Leah in her marketing efforts.
- 😔 However, Leah later discovered that some of the scientific theories she used for marketing, such as the polyvagal theory, were outdated and not supported by current neuroscience.
- 🚫 She now warns against therapists who continue to promote outdated theories and encourages clients to seek therapists with a modern understanding of brain function.
- 🛑 Leah emphasizes the importance of using contemporary neuroscience, such as predictive processing, as a framework for understanding mental health and therapy.
Q & A
Who is Leah Benson and what is her profession?
-Leah Benson is a licensed body-based psychotherapist, coach, and psychedelic guide based in Tampa Bay.
What does Leah Benson discuss in the video script about the marketing of therapy services?
-Leah Benson discusses the challenges and ethical dilemmas therapists face in marketing their services, including the use of outdated pseudo-science to legitimize and sell their services.
What is psychodynamic psychotherapy and why did it fall out of favor?
-Psychodynamic psychotherapy is a long-term therapy that explores unconscious processes and early life experiences. It fell out of favor starting in the 1970s due to the rise of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which is considered evidence-based and quicker in delivering results.
What is the significance of being evidence-based in therapy and how did it affect marketing?
-Being evidence-based means that a therapy follows a protocol that is scientifically tested and can be repeated by any therapist. This became a key selling point for therapists in marketing themselves, even if they did not strictly follow the protocols.
Why did Leah Benson initially find the polyvagal theory appealing for her marketing?
-Leah Benson found the polyvagal theory appealing because it provided her with scientific language to market her services, despite the therapy she practiced not strictly following an evidence-based protocol.
What is bioenergetic analysis and how did it fit into Leah's therapeutic approach?
-Bioenergetic analysis is a therapy modality that integrates the body into the therapeutic process. It fit into Leah's approach as she wanted to bring awareness of the body and its energetic processes into the work of the talking cure.
What book helped to legitimize body-based psychotherapy and destigmatize therapy?
-The book 'The Body Keeps the Score' by a Harvard professor helped legitimize body-based psychotherapy and destigmatize the idea of going to therapy.
Why did Leah Benson feel betrayed by the educators in the field of body-based therapy?
-Leah Benson felt betrayed because the educators promoted outdated pseudo-science, which was known to be falsified in certain neuroscience circles, without updating their teachings with the latest scientific understanding of brain function.
What does Leah Benson believe is a better framework for understanding mental health and therapy?
-Leah Benson believes that the 21st-century science of brain function, particularly the concept of predictive processing, is a better framework for understanding mental health and how therapy helps.
What advice does Leah Benson give to those seeking therapy to avoid outdated beliefs?
-Leah Benson advises people to find therapists who understand predictive processing or to seek out traditional psychoanalysts, as they do not usually rely on outdated scientific theories.
Outlines
📚 The Marketing of Therapy: Selling Outdated Pseudoscience
Leah Benson, a licensed body-based psychotherapist, coach, and psychedelic guide, discusses the challenges of marketing psychotherapy in a competitive field. She admits to initially being influenced by outdated pseudoscientific theories and the pressure to market herself effectively. Benson highlights the shift from psychodynamic psychotherapy to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), which gained popularity due to its evidence-based approach and shorter treatment duration. She criticizes the misuse of the term 'evidence-based' by therapists who claim to follow protocols without actually doing so. Benson also reflects on her own journey of building her practice and the importance of aligning marketing strategies with scientific credibility, especially in the age of internet searches and keyword optimization.
🔬 The Evolution of Therapy: From Pseudoscience to 21st Century Neuroscience
Benson continues her narrative by exploring her search for a therapy modality that integrates the body into the therapeutic process. She initially found the polyvagal theory appealing for its scientific basis but realized it lacked practical clinical applications. Eventually, she discovered bioenergetic analysis, which aligned with her psychoanalytic background and allowed her to incorporate the body into therapy. The release of 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel van der Kolk further legitimized body-based psychotherapy. However, Benson's enthusiasm was dampened when she encountered new information in 2020 that contradicted the outdated pseudoscience she had been promoting. She felt betrayed by educators who continued to propagate these theories despite their falsification. Benson now advocates for a shift towards a more accurate understanding of brain function based on 21st-century neuroscience, which she believes empowers patients and avoids reinforcing harmful beliefs.
🌟 Moving Forward: Embracing Modern Neuroscience in Therapy
In the final paragraph, Benson concludes her discussion by emphasizing the importance of staying updated with the latest scientific findings in neuroscience. She warns against therapists who may be unintentionally reinforcing negative beliefs by adhering to outdated theories. Benson suggests that clients should be cautious and seek therapists who understand predictive processing or opt for traditional psychoanalysts who do not rely on scientific jargon. She encourages embracing the proven effectiveness of methods that have stood the test of time, supported by contemporary neuroscience, and ends her talk with a reminder to stay informed and vigilant in the ever-evolving field of psychotherapy.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Psychotherapist
💡Pseudoscience
💡Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT)
💡Evidence-based practice
💡Polyvagal Theory
💡Bioenergetic Analysis
💡The Body Keeps the Score
💡Predictive Processing
💡Neuroscience
💡Marketing
💡Psychoanalysis
Highlights
Leah Benson, a licensed body-based psychotherapist, coach, and psychedelic guide, discusses the marketing challenges faced by psychotherapists.
Benson admits to being influenced by outdated pseudoscience during her training and early career.
The decline in popularity of long-term psychotherapy since the 1970s due to the rise of evidence-based cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT).
Therapists claiming to provide evidence-based therapy as a marketing strategy, even without following specific protocols.
The importance of using science to market private practice services in the insurance-dominated landscape.
Benson's struggle to market her psychodynamic psychotherapy practice without relying on evidence-based therapy claims.
The role of Google searches and keywords in attracting clients to therapy practices.
Benson's exploration of the polyvagal theory as a means to market her services with scientific credibility.
The emergence of bioenergetic analysis as a therapy modality that integrates the body into the therapeutic process.
The publication of 'The Body Keeps the Score' and its impact on legitimizing body-based psychotherapy.
Benson's realization in 2020 that the polyvagal theory and related concepts were outdated and not supported by current neuroscience.
The feeling of betrayal by educators promoting outdated theories despite newer scientific understanding.
Benson's efforts to inform others in the therapy community about the outdated nature of certain theories.
The importance of understanding 21st-century brain function for a more empowering framework of mental health.
The potential for therapists to inadvertently reinforce harmful beliefs through outdated theories.
The recommendation to seek therapists who understand predictive processing or traditional psychoanalysts.
Benson's closing remarks on the significance of staying informed about current scientific understanding in therapy.
Transcripts
let's face it no one is exempt from the
marketing game not even psychotherapists
so buy or
beware hey everybody my name is Leah
Benson and I'm a licensed body-based
psychotherapist coach and psychedelic
guide in Tampa Bay and today I'm going
to explain my view on how we got to the
point where therapists are out there
explaining outdated pseudo science to
legitimize and Market what they sell
let me Begin by admitting that I too was
under the spell of a bunch of outdated
pseudo science for a while I had
completed my required training and my
own 10-year psycho analysis and I was
out there in the Wilds of Private
Practice working to acquire clients
without being part of an insurance
company Network I needed to let's be
honest I needed to sell myself and I do
mean myself because in the work I do I
am my instrument and even though what
makes me good at what I do is the
10-year psycho analysis I had the years
of case consultation with seasoned
psychoanalysts that I did and the
ongoing personal work I still do on a
regular basis that's not a good sales
pitch or at least it wasn't at the time
I started selling my
services especially when the kind of
therapy I do was and often still is the
butt of nearly every therapy joke out
there see I do psychodynamic
Psychotherapy which is generally
considered a long-term therapy even if
it doesn't always last 10 years like
mine did and long-term Psychotherapy
fell out of favor starting in the 1970s
when cognitive behavioral therapy got
popular and cognitive behavioral or CBT
got popular because it was evidence
based which means like in any scientific
study there's a protocol written in an
instruction manual that is followed to a
te and can be
repeated by anybody it doesn't take a
seasoned professional with a lot of
experience to do
it and it's quick it only takes 8 to 12
sessions to complete the protocol and
the problem is solved according to the
studies that proved its
efficacy this is what evidence-based
practice means instruction manual
therapy that can be performed by any
therapist so anyway it's more
complicated than that but that is the
gist and when this short form therapy
was popularized and legitimized with
scientific studies and science
jargon then as a therapist
to signal that you were any good you had
to tell everyone that you were providing
evidence-based therapy and the truth is
most therapists weren't doing protocols
they just claimed they were doing
evidencebased treatment to Market
themselves and they still
do fast forward from that origin story
of evidence-based to this new millennium
when insurance companies and farmer run
the the show and it's obvious to anyone
marketing their private practice that
science is the way to sell your
services so there I was back in 2005
building my private psychodynamic
Psychotherapy practice using a method
that was wellknown anecdotally to be
effective at changing people's lives
without a way to signal to people that
it was legitimate and on top of it this
was right right at the point when people
were beginning to find their therapists
through Google searches meaning keywords
meaning make sure you're saying things
that will get you at the top of the
rankings I didn't want to say I did CBT
when actually I didn't follow an
instruction manual to help people
because people are more complicated than
that and it wasn't a symptom or two that
people wanted to change they wanted
their lives to feel better and they
could couldn't figure out why they
didn't enter my own seduction by the
poly vagel Theory and other outdated
science by 2009 2010 I was deep in the
throws of learning how to Market as well
as deep into the awareness that many
people on my couch doing this talking
cure with me were not getting to the
feeling parts of therapy that I knew
were
important I started searching and I ran
across ideas like molecules of emotion
the biology of
belief and I even considered getting
licensed as a massage therapist for some
vague reason I don't really remember and
then I found the poly vagal Theory which
gave me some science to hang my
marketing on and that was cool but it
still didn't give me a concrete way to
bring the body into therapy because all
the clinical application of the poly
vagal Theory certification courses
didn't exist
yet so I kept searching and as luck
would have it bioenergetic analysis fell
into my lap in
2013 finally I had found a therapy
modality that would allow me to bring
the body into therapy exactly as I had
wanted to do for
years best of all it was an outgrowth of
the psychoanalytic tradition I was
already practiced in so it was perfect
that was a good phase I had the poly
vagel Theory to give me some scientific
sounding marketing copy and in the
second year of training and bioenergetic
Analysis the now very famous book the
body keeps the score came out by a
Harvard guy who all at once legitimized
body-based
Psychotherapy and
destigmatized the idea of going to
therapy it was awesome I was being
trained and how to bring awareness of
the body and its energetic processes
into the work of the talking cure and
what I was doing was supported by
science
woohoo and then it all came crumbling
down in
2020 while everyone else was discovering
the body keeps the score book and
jumping on board with poly vagel ideas
during the pandemic lockdowns I was
smacking face first into information
that undermined everything about that
science much to my shin it slowly dawned
on me over the period of a year that
there was no reconciling the new
information about brain function I was
learning with the outdated pseudo
science of the poly vagal idea and the
rational emotional primitive brain ideas
presented in the body keeps the score
and taught by the Le leading Educators
in the field that I'd been studying
with and man was that a
blow I mean to realize I'd spent the
better part of a decade marketing my
services with the language of outdated
pseudo
science I felt like a real
dope and I also felt betrayed by the
teachers in the field who had promoted
that outdated pseudo science even though
it was well known in certain
Neuroscience circles to have been
falsified for
decades and I felt desperate to tell
everyone I knew in the body based
therapy World about it but guess what
they didn't want to hear it in fact a
lot of them still don't want
to so now when I have extra energy to
spend I make snarky comments on the
social media profiles of people who know
better but are still promoting the stuff
and otherwise I go about my business
telling you guys about it because right
now almost no one else is and it matters
because the 21st century science of
brain function is a better framework for
understanding your mental health it's a
better way of understanding how therapy
helps you and it empowers you in a way
the old Frameworks simply do not in fact
in those Frameworks you are a victim a
victim to A Primitive and emotional
brain and to a body that's always
betraying you when in fact none of this
is
true to top it off because of the 21st
century understanding of how brains
actually work what we know is that what
happens when you believe those ideas you
are much more likely to remain a victim
because that's what brains do they look
for evidence of their
beliefs so buyer
beware your therapist may be helping you
solidify bad beliefs and if you don't
want that stay away from them and their
outdated
science find people who understand
predictive processing or just find
yourself a good oldfashioned monit day
psychoanalyst cuz they don't usually
talk about science
at all they just use a method that has
been proven effective for 140 years that
the 21st century science of brain
function explains
perfectly and that's it for today
everybody see you next time
[Music]
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