So, you’re out for a walk.  It’s a beautiful day but you’re caught up in your thoughts, feeling a bit discouraged and concerned.

For whatever reason, some of the people you are working with aren’t improving.  You’re no novice clinician.  You know impasses are a common feature of therapeutic work.  Still, this time your knowledge and experience aren’t helping.  You’re stuck.

That’s when you spot someone on the path ahead, leaning comfortably against a tree.  As you are about to pass by, the stranger smiles kindly, then steps forward.

“Good morning,” he says, calling you by name.

Although you can’t quite place him, you reply in a friendly manner, barely slowing your pace.

“I can see that you’ve got a lot on your mind,” he continues, now walking alongside.  It’s his next question that stops you in your tracks.

“Thinking about your clients again, aren’t you?” Slowly shaking his head from left to right, “It’s hard when you’re not as helpful as you mean to be.”

Before you can say, “Jack and the Beanstalk,” the man reaches into his pants pocket.  Removing his hand, he slowly extends it toward you eventually opening it, palm up.

“Quickly,” he demands, “How many beans do you see?”

Still stunned by the whole experience, you reply, “Five.”

“Right you are!” he exclaims excitedly, “And because you are so sharp, you can easily see these are no normal beans.  They’re magical.  Plant them in your office and by morning they’ll grow right up to the sky, providing a pathway for even your most difficult and challenging clients.”

“Really?” you respond, now feeling more than a bit incredulous.

The man doesn’t miss a beat.  “Of course,” he instantly reassures, “These beans are evidence-based.”  Pointing to a briefcase near the tree, “In there, I have many studies showing beans grow when planted, as well as plethora of PET scan images documenting how climbing the stalks causes real changes in the prefrontal and motor cortex of the brain.”

You move back a step, rub your chin, and eye the man suspiciously.

“Come on,” he says, “You want to help, don’t you?  What you’re doing now isn’t working.  You know that.  What have you got to lose?”

That is the question.  So, what’s the answer?

If you’ve been a therapist for more than a few years, you’ve likely discovered our field is full of beans, bean sellers, and bean counters.  As just one example, for three decades CBT has been touted as the ‘treatment of choice” — a revolutionary advance, actually — for a wide array in mental health problems.

Rarely does a day pass that I don’t receive a brochure (or email to the left) for a workshop on the approach.   Search the term on Amazon and you’ll find more than 4000 books and related products.  At the same time, regulatory bodies around the world have created practice guidelines heavily skewed toward CBT.

And yet, there is no evidence that any of this leads to better outcomes.  The facts are: (1) CBT is no more effective than any other therapeutic approach (1, 2); (2) training in CBT does not improve therapist effectiveness (1); and finally, (3) guidelines favoring the adoption of CBT over other approaches have not resulted in better outcomes, and may inadvertently have led to a decline (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Claims about the novelty and effectiveness of other popular approaches fare similarly, including EMDR and Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT).  Here again, books, workshops, and claims abound.  Ultimately, however, these two methods work about as well, but no better, than any other approach.  Plus, there’s no evidence that training in either improves therapist effectiveness (1, 2, 3).

Returning to the question, it turns out a critical opportunity is lost in the trade for a handful of “magical” beans: individual professional development.  As all practitioners know, and have likely counseled their own clients, it is precisely at those moments when we are feeling most stuck that the greatest possibility for growth exists.  It’s also when we’re most vulnerable to promises of a shortcut —  the proverbial “goose that lays a golden egg.”

Until very recently, there’s been no alternative.  In Chapter 2 of the new book, The Cycle of Excellence, friend and colleague Daryl Chow and I describe how practitioners can use deliberate practice to both identify and move beyond their individual growth edge.   It is not an easy route.  At the same time, however, it is the only approach to professional development that has been shown to lead to measureable improvements in effectiveness on par with rates seen in Olympic atheletes in training (1).

[Read more…]

Which of the following are bad for health and longevity?

A. Smoking;
B. Consuming too much alcohol;
C. Being overweight;
D. Not flossing regularly.

If you answered “yes” to any or all of the items, you are WRONG–that is, at least, if you are determined to rely on evidence derived from randomized controlled trials (RCT’s) alone in making healthcare decisions.

For some time now, RCT’s have been considered the “gold standard” for assessing evidence.  That said, for reasons which are likely obvious to you, no scientist would ever conduct studies in which real people are randomly assigned to either smoke, drink excessively, overeat, floss. or not.

And yet, the Associated Press (AP) recently dismissed flossing because of the paucity of such trials.  Their eye-catching headline?

Medical benefits of dental floss unproven

The story is worth reading.  It has all the qualities of a John Grisham novel: (1) a corrupt government; (2) self-serving business executives; (3) professional organizations with serious conflicts of interest; and best of all (4) secret documents retrieved by valiant news reporters via the Freedom of Information Act.  Seriously!

So, should you stop flossing?  Of course not.  Neither should you take up smoking, begin drinking excessively, or consumer many more calories per day than you burn.  But, surely you knew that.  For many living in the era of evidence-based medicine, however, no RCTs = no evidence.  In fact, this is exactly the thinking behind many of the guidelines steering the practice of psychotherapy today.

Local, state, national, and international regulatory bodies place RCT’s at the top of the hierarchy of scientific methods, generating lists of “approved” methods.  Increasingly, reimbursement and funding decisions are linked to practicing in accordance with these recommendations.   The implicit message is clear.  Where an RCT exists, no thinking on your part is required.  Just do what you are told and all will be well. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.  No evidence exists showing that the widespread adoption of “psychological treatments of known efficacy“– that is, those tested in RCTs, deemed empirically-supported, and listed on regulatory websites — has resulted in any real-world improvement in outcome.  In fact, the overall effectiveness of psychotherapy has remained unchanged for more than 40 years.

Turns out, what does matter in terms of outcome is the very element of treatment that’s largely been pushed aside, even maligned, in current research environment:  YOU! 

In RCT’s, by contrast, the provider of treatment is literally considered a “nuisance variable”  — an aspect of the process that must be controlled with protocols and blinding because they are “of no particular interest” to investigators.

Importantly, however, studies dating back decades show that who provides psychotherapy matters significantly more than what particular method or approach they use — 5 to 9 times more!  It may be difficult to believe, but its true: even when following detailed treatment protocols, differences in outcome between therapists persist.

For consumers, the implication is clear: choose your provider carefully as they significantly influence the results of the care you receive.  For therapists, it means that improving one’s effectiveness is not a matter of using the right treatment approach, but rather working on you; specifically, identifying your unique constellation of strengths and weaknesses, and building on the former while targeting the latter for remediation.  In a series of ingenious studies, for example, clinicians realized significant gains in their ability to successfully manage challenging moments in psychotherapy when provided with feedback specific to their particular deficits and abilities.   Importantly, participants ability to respond warmly, emphatically, and collaboratively not only improved, but also generalized to novel scenarios they had not encountered previously or been given time to rehearse.

Interested?  Take a listen to this interview with Dr. Daryl Chow.  Trust me when I say listen all the way to the end as there’s a real gem in the last minute about improving your results as a therapist.