S.A.M.S.H.A. designates Feedback-Informed Treatment an "Evidence-based Practice"
February 2, 2013 Chicago, Illinois USA I am honored to announce that Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) has been added to SAMSHA's official database of evidence-based practices (EBP) known as NREPP (the National Registry of Evidence-based Programs and Practices). Briefly, NREPP is a searchable online registry of behavioral health interventions that ...
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Resources on Feedback-Informed Treatment, Training, & Research
Last week, I spent a day in London working with the clinical staff of the Hertfordshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust. The subject? Feedback, of course! As soon as I stepped off my transcontinental flight, I knew it was going to be a fun day. Every way I turned at ...
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Curing Clinician Overconfidence: Try Darting and Frowning
Overconfidence. It's a problem that leads to systematic errors in judgement. Long thought to arise out of hubris or the corrupting effects of the emotion, the evidence actually shows it to be built into humans' evolved cognitive machinery. Existimo ergo certus sum (I think, therefore I am...certain). Behavioral health ...
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Believing is Seeing: How Wishing Makes Things So
Yesterday evening, my family and I were watching a bit of T.V. My son, Michael commented about all the ads for nutrional supplements, juicing machines, weight loss programs and devices. "Oh yeah," I thought, then explained to him, "It's the start of a new year." Following "spending more time with family," available evidence ...
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Feedback in Groups: New Tools, New Evidence
Groups are an increasingly popular mode for delivering behavioral health services. Few would deny that using the same hour to treat mutliple people is more cost effective. A large body of research shows it to be as effective in general as individually delivered treatments. Now clinicians can incorporate feedback into the group ...
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Dealing with Scientific Objections to the Outcome and Session Rating Scales: Real and Bogus
The available evidence is clear: seeking formal feedback from consumers of behavioral health services decreases drop out and deterioration while simultanesouly improving effectiveness. When teaching practitioners how to use the ORS and SRS to elicit feedback regarding progress and the therapeutic relationship, three common and important concerns are raised:
- How ...
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The Importance of "Whoops" in Improving Treatment Outcome
"Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything, That's how the light gets in." Leonard Cohen, Anthem Making mistakes. We all do it, in both our personal and professional lives. "To err is human...," the old saying goes. And most ...
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What is the Real Source of Effectiveness in Smoking Cessation Treatment? New Research on Feedback Informed Treatment
When it rains, it pours! So much news to relay regarding recent research on Feedback Informed Treatment (FIT). Just received news this week from ICCE Associate Stephen Michaels that research using the ORS and SRS in smoking cessation treatment is in print! A few days prior to that, Kelley ...
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Clinical Support Tools for the ORS and SRS
I have so much to be grateful for at this time. Most of all, I'm happy to be home with my family. As we have in the past, this year we'll be spending the holiday at the home of our long time friends John and Renee Dalton. The two always put out ...
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An Easy Way to Improve Our Schools (and Psychotherapy)
If you didn't see the October Atlantic Monthly, you really missed a great issue. In it, Amanda Ripley wrote a delightful and informative article about a simple and straightforward method for improving the performance of the public schools: have kids grade teachers. What kind of grades you ask? Not those on standardized achievement ...
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Have you got an App for that? The Therapeutic Outcome Management System (TOMS)
"Do you have an app for the ORS and SRS?" That's the message that greeted me in my inbox this morning when I made it into the office. I was so happy to be able to write back and say, "Yes, absolutely!" In addition to two web-based systems for administering, ...
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Psychotherapy Training: Is it Worth the Bother?
Big bucks. That's what training in psychotherapy costs. Take graduate school in psychology as an example. According to the US Department of Education's National Center (NCES), a typical doctoral program takes five years to complete and costs between US$ 240,000-300,000.00. Who has that kind of money laying around after ...
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Is Psychotherapy Getting Better?
This last month, I spent a significant amount of time traveling around Europe and Scandanavia (Germany, Sweden, Denmark, the Netherlands) working with clinicians and mental health agencies implementing Feedback-Informed Treatment. Not infrequently, people ask me, "doesn't all the travel wear you out?" My pat response is, "No, not at all! ...
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Thomas Szasz, M.D.: Memories of a Friend and Mentor
Very early in the morning of December 9th, 2009, I received a call in my hotel room. My long time colleague and mentor, Jeffrey Zeig was on the other end. "May I ask you a favor?" he said. "Of course," I instantly replied, completely unaware of what was coming. "Tom ...
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National Psychotherapy Day: A Recognition, Celebration, and Call for Action
With all the challenges facing the profession, it is important to highlight people and organizations that are working hard to make a difference. On that note, tomorrow, Tuesday the 25th of September 2012 is the very first National Psychotherapy Day. Having a day of unified, active promotion of psychotherapy is ...
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