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Madison Wright

Dr. Joyce White

CRTW 201 018

27 April 2021

Does Psychotherapy Really Work?

Have you ever been to the doctor and second guessed a diagnosis they had given you?

The answer to this question is most likely, no. This is because doctors are well trained and have

reputable curative outcomes. People should be able to feel the same way about their therapists.

However, this is not always the case. More often than not, psychotherapy does not help

individuals with mental health conditions or emotional distress and these conditions should

always be treated at the same level as medical illnesses. People put their trust into

psychotherapists at a time when the patient is vulnerable and it is important that they are getting

the care that they need, which will not be guaranteed by psychotherapy. Psychotherapy should

not be a reliable source for treatment because practices they use can create false memories, there

is no scientific significance that it actually works, and a medical degree is not required to

practice.

Psychotherapy is a way to treat mental health conditions or emotional issues. The

American Psychiatric Association talks a little deeper into the specifics of psychotherapy and

how they practice in the article “What is Psychotherapy?”. This article claims that

“Psychotherapy can help eliminate or control troubling symptoms so a person can function better

and can increase well-being and healing” (American Psychiatric Association). There are many

things that psychotherapy can help with including trauma, grieving with the loss of a loved one,

life in general, or mental health issues. There are many different types of psychotherapy some
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being cognitive behavioral therapy which changes behavioral patterns replacing them with more

functional ones, interpersonal therapy which teaches patients healthy ways to cope with

emotions, and dialectical behavior therapy which is mainly a form of group therapy that can help

individuals become accountable for their behavior and be the change in themselves to get better.

This is just a few types of psychotherapy but there are lots more that all target different issues.

According to the American Psychiatric Association, “most people who receive psychotherapy

experience symptom relief and are better able to function in their lives” meaning that it is not the

answer for everyone (American Psychiatric Association). Most people use psychotherapy

alongside medication and find that one or the other works better for them. One practice that

many psychotherapists use is recovered memory therapy. Recovered memory therapy is a way to

recall traumatic memories that were repressed as a child. According to Crystal Raypole, a writer

and editor for Good Health, she states “a person faced with something too difficult to accept

might unconsciously reject that information. They then effectively forget what happened, though

Freud found some people seemed to later recall lost memories, particularly under hypnosis”

(Raypole). However, this practice is not always accurate and can lead to something called false

memories.

One reason that psychotherapy is not a reliable source for treatment is because recovered

memory therapy, a technique they practice, can create false memories. Authors Bryan Myers,

Sarah Johnson, Rachael Shoemake, and Jennifer Myers researched this technique at the

University of North Carolina Wilmington and published it in the article “Perceptions of

Recovered Memory Therapy: Hindsight Bias Effects on Judgments of Memory Veracity and

Therapist Competence and Responsibility”. This article starts off by stating that

“Psychotherapists who engage in risky therapeutic practices can produce harmful consequences
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for clients, particularly when clients are unaware of the dangers of these practices” (Myers et al.).

Many individuals with mental health conditions or in emotional distress reach out to

“professionals” and trust their opinions and diagnoses because it is supposed to be a safe place.

In reality, psychotherapists can do whatever they want because they are the ones who are

supposed to be experienced in the field, not the clients themselves. The clients don't know any

different. The article states that “RMT involves a constellation of procedures designed to aid in

the recovery of long-forgotten childhood memories” (Myers et al.). Recovered memory therapy

(RMT) is supposed to recall trauma from the client's childhood by using things like guided

imagery, the psychotherapist trying to interpret the client's dreams, hypnosis, or even journalism.

The most common use of RMT is hypnosis and this study states that after researching, “it was

quite clear of the dangers from implanting false memories using hypnotic methods” (Myers et

al.). However, some psychotherapists claim that the good outweigh the bad, meaning they are

aware of the bad outcomes and still choose to continue practicing. The article also states that

“Despite alerts as to the dangers associated with RMT emerging in the early 1990s, therapists

continued to use RMT in their practice and/or endorse many of the beliefs associated with RMT”

which makes people wonder if psychotherapists use this for the benefit of their clients or just as a

way to get outcomes (Myers et al.).

An example of this can be seen in the book, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me)

published by social psychologist, lecturer, and writer, Carol Tavris, alongside social

psychologist, researcher, teacher, and writer, Elliot Aronson. In this book the authors shared a

case where false memories were created using recovered memory therapy. In this case, a girl

who they called Grace, went to get help from a psychotherapist because she was experiencing

panic attacks. Grace knew the root of the panic attack was from feeling like she had little control
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over situations with her male employer whom she did not get along with very well. Instead of

helping her overcome this, the psychotherapist told her that these symptoms meant that “her

father had sexually abused her when she was a child” (Tavris & Aronson 132). Like many others

would, Grace trusted this diagnosis, leading her to cut off her family, even her husband and son.

She confronted her father of this and put a strain on their relationship causing them to not talk for

a long time regardless of the good relationship they have always had. Grace later went back to

her psychotherapist after having time to process and cope with this diagnosis to tell them that she

did not believe this was true. Grace was an advocate for herself and she did her own research

which led to her finding a better, more logical explanation for her panic attacks. Her

psychotherapist proceeded to tell her “You’re sicker than ever” (Tavris & Aronson 132). This

was the psychotherapists ego preserving blind spots kicking in because instead of researching

further into panic attacks and why she was having them, if it wasn't because of her dad abusing

her, the therapist just kept rolling with his original idea to preserve his ego that he may have been

wrong about such a big thing in her life. If it wasn't for Grace doing her own research, she could

have been left with this false memory that her psychotherapist put in her head for the rest of her

life, running her once loving relationship with her father. Some clients don't think to do this

because they put all of their trust into this form of therapy which they should be able to do

without having to second guess their opinions. However, psychotherapy is unreliable and should

not be allowed to practice for reasons like this.

Another reason why psychotherapy is not a reliable source for treatment is because there

is no scientific significance proving that it actually works. H. J. Eysenck is a psychologist who

researched the effectiveness of psychotherapy through the Institute of Psychiatry in London. He

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published the article “The Outcome Problem in Psychotherapy: A Reply” where he found that

they could not “attach any scientific significance to general impressions or assumptions

regarding any form of psychotherapy” (Eysenck). This means that all the different forms of

psychotherapy, like cognitive behavioral therapy, interpersonal therapy, and dialectical behavior

therapy, which all claim to target different issues and provide help, have no science backing up

the truth to any of those claims. Not only is psychotherapy not backed up by scientific evidence,

but Eysenck goes as far to say that it can cause harm or damage to the patients. The author states

that “there is one point which suggests that these more recent studies may even lead to the

conclusion that therapy actually has a deleterious effect on mental patients” (Eysenck). Clients

come into therapy seeking help and wish to come out better than they came in, but with

psychotherapy, patients could end up coming out with even more problems than when they

started. In becoming a reputable and trustworthy therapist of any kind, it is important to show

that the methods they practice are curative and demonstrate how what they do is better than what

traditional therapists do but Eysenck believes that “psychotherapists and psychoanalysts have

failed to do any of these things” (Eysenck). In conclusion, this article is just another example of

how psychotherapy is not effective and can do more harm than good.

The final reason that supports why psychotherapy is not a reliable source for treatment is

because you do not need a medical degree to practice. According to Very Well Mind in the

article “How to Become a Psychotherapist”, they state that “If your goal is to become a therapist,

your first step will probably be to earn a bachelor's degree in psychology. However, people with

undergraduate degrees in other fields are often accepted into graduate training programs” (Very

Well Mind). It is not required to have a degree in psychology to be accepted into the graduate

training program to become a psychotherapist. Additionally, individuals do not need a masters or

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doctoral degree, people just need to complete a training program after undergrad to become

“qualified”. Doctors go through years and years of school before they even can become a

resident to practice medicine, why is it different for a psychotherapist? Psychotherapists can

make life changing diagnosis just like doctors, so it is important for them to be just as qualified

to become reliable. The book, Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me), gives a good example as to

why it is important to have a degree or a good understanding of what you are practicing. Bessel

van der Kolk practiced recovered memory therapy to dig up repressed memories of his patients.

When put on trial it was evident that van der Kolk was unaware of the disconfirming evidence

towards recovered memory therapy, or the evidence that discredits this form of therapy. He was

also asked if he read anything discussing the false memories with hypnosis and flat out admitted

that he had not. Van der Kolk was practicing this on patients, unaware of the harm this can cause

to patients by creating false memories and it questions what else others are doing like this

because they do not have proper training. Van der Kolk “had never taken a course in

experimental psychology” (Tavris & Aronson 142). This goes to show that the training and

background is so important for psychotherapists and that they should not be letting anyone,

especially those with just an undergraduate degree in an unrelated subject and a little bit of

training, practice psychotherapy.

Even though psychotherapy is extremely unreliable, there are some success stories that

come from it. Linda F. Campbell, John C. Norcross, Melba J. T. Vasquez, and Nadine J. Kaslow,

all researchers at various universities, published the article “Recognition of Psychotherapy

Effectiveness: The APA Resolution”. In this they state, “By any standard of effectiveness,

psychotherapy works. Evidence for the effectiveness of psychotherapy can be found in thousands

of individual studies and in hundreds of meta-analyses conducted over several decades”

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(Campbell et al.). However, this is followed up by the statement, “Although psychotherapy does

not work perfectly or for all clients, it is, simply put, remarkably effective” (Campbell et al.).

This is very true and can be true for even things such as medication, but it raises the wonder of

how often it works than not or how many clients are like Grace, thinking that the therapy has

worked but after further consideration that is not really the case. This article also states, “Despite

the impressive body of evidence, there has been neither a widely accepted definition of

psychotherapy nor official recognition of its effectiveness by the American Psychological

Association (APA)” (Campbell et al.). If this treatment is as effective as these authors claim it to

be, then why has the American Psychological Association not recognized it? Even though some

people swear by psychotherapy, it is not worth taking a shot because there are more cases

supporting the unreliability than not.

Doctors’ outcomes are never always 100% but when there is a chance that the bad

outweighs the good, patients need to seek alternative care. Psychotherapists are not reliable

treatment for mental illnesses or emotional difficulties for many different reasons. One reason for

this is because some psychotherapists practice recovered memory therapy which supposedly

recalls memories from childhood trauma that the patient has suppressed. More often than not the

psychotherapists create false memories that the patient never experienced. Another reason

psychotherapy is not reliable is because there is not any scientific evidence supporting that this

form of therapy is effective, and the American Psychological Association has not recognized this

as effective either. Finally, psychotherapy is not reliable because individuals do not need a

masters or doctoral degree to practice. It is not even required to have an undergraduate degree in

psychology to gain training. Regardless of whether or not psychotherapy has worked for a small
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number of patients, people should always do their research on who they are seeking care from to

make sure they are reliable and can actually help them get better.
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Works Cited

Campbell, Linda F., et al. “Recognition of Psychotherapy Effectiveness: The APA Resolution.”

Psychotherapy, vol. 50, no. 1, Mar. 2013, pp. 98–101. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.1037/a0031817.

Cherry, Kendra. “The Steps to Becoming a Psychotherapist.” Verywell Mind, 2 Mar. 2020,

www.verywellmind.com/how-can-i-become-a-therapist-2795762.

Eysenck, H. J. “The Outcome Problem in Psychotherapy: A Reply.” Psychotherapy, vol. 50, no.

1, Mar. 2013, pp. 12–14. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/h0094490.

Myers, Bryan, et al. “Perceptions of Recovered Memory Therapy: Hindsight Bias Effects on

Judgments of Memory Veracity and Therapist Competence and Responsibility.”

Psychology of Consciousness: Theory, Research, and Practice, vol. 4, no. 4, Dec. 2017,

pp. 396–413. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/cns0000133.

Parekh, M.D., M.P.H., Ranna, and Lior Givon, M.D., PH.D. What Is Psychotherapy? Jan. 2019,

www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/psychotherapy.

Raypole, Crystal. “Repressed Memory Recovery: Useful Tool or Misleading Practice?”

GoodTherapy.org Therapy Blog, 8 Mar. 2019, www.goodtherapy.org/blog/repressed-

memory-recovery-useful-tool-or-misleading-practice-0313197.

Tavris, Carol, and Elliot Aronson. Mistakes Were Made (but Not by Me). Mariner Books

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020.