Therapy Thieves

"Why are we - practicing counselors and psychotherapists - committed to failure?" This is the question that has haunted Dr. Francis Martin as he has cataloged well over 20,000 distinct psychotherapy approaches advertised on the websites of licensed mental health professionals. No doubt some of these are harmful, most of them ineffective, and many simply made-up but the sheer volume of such techniques and practices, advertised by licensed professionals holding advanced degrees whose services are billed to clients and insurance companies calls the credibility of the entire mental health profession into question. Based on significant, original research that joins research from others, this book describes a near-universal crisis in mental health care and recommends ways to rescue the field from itself. The crisis is caused by declining competence among counselors and psychotherapists who have failed to regulate themselves and who, therefore, deliver inadequate, if not harmful, services. The book calls for major, specific and urgently needed reforms.