Have you heard of the “Baader-Meinhof” effect?  If not, I’m positive you’ll soon be seeing evidence of it everywhere.

That’s what “it” is, by the way — that curious experience of seeing something you’ve just noticed, been told of, or thought about, cropping up all around you.  So …

You buy a car and suddenly it’s everywhere.  That outfit you thought was so unique?  Boom!  Everyone is sporting it.  How about the conversation you just had with your friend?  You know, the one that was so stimulating and interesting?  Now the subject is on everyone’s lips.

Depending on your level of self-esteem or degree of narcissism, Baader-Meinhof either leaves you feeling on the “cutting edge” of cultural trends or constantly lagging behind others.  For me, it’s generally the latter.  And recently, its a feeling that has been dogging me a fair bit.

The subject?  Trauma.

Whether simple or complex, ongoing or one-off, experienced as a child or adult, trauma is the topic de jour — a cause célèbre linked to an ever-growing list of problems, including depression, anxiety, dissociation, insomnia, headaches, stomachaches, asthma, stroke, diabetes, and most recently, ADHD.

Then, of course, there are the offers for training.  Is it just me or is trauma the subject of every other email solicitation, podcast announcement, and printed flyer?

The truth is our field has been here many times before.  Over the last 25 years, depression, multiple personality disorder, rapid cycling bipolar disorder II, attention deficit disorder, and borderline personality disorder have all burst on the scene, enjoyed a period of intense professional interest, and then receded into the background.

Available evidence makes clear this pattern — aha, whoa, and hmm what’s next? — is far from benign.  While identifying who is suffering and why is an important and noble endeavor, outcomes of mental healthcare have not improved over the last 40 years.  What’s more, no evidence exists that training in treatment modalities specific to any particular diagnosis — the popularly-termed, “evidence-based” practices — improves effectiveness.  Problematically, studies do show undergoing such training increases practitioner perception of enhanced competence (Neimeyer, Taylor, & Cox, 2012) .

On more than one occasion, I’ve witnessed advocates of particular treatment methods claim it’s unethical for a therapist to work with people who’ve experienced a trauma if they haven’t been trained in a specific “trauma-focused” approach.  It’s a curious statement — one which, given the evidence, can only be meant to bully and shame practitioners into going along with the crowd.  Data on the subject are clear and date back over a decade (1, 2, 3).  In case of any doubt, a brand new review of the research, published in the journal Psychotherapy, concludes, “There are no clinically meaningful differences between … treatment methods for trauma … [including those] designed intentionally to omit components [believed essential to] effective treatments (viz., exposure, cognitive restructuring, and focus on trauma)” (p. 393).

If you find the results reported in the preceding paragraph confusing or unbelievable, recalling the “Baader-Meinhof” effect can be help.  It reminds us that despite its current popularity in professional discourse, trauma and its treatment is nothing new.  Truth is, therapists have always been helping those who’ve suffered its effects.  More, while the field’s outcomes have not improved over time, studies of real world practitioners show they generally achieve results on par with those obtained in studies of so-called evidence-based treatments 1, 2, 3).

Of course, none of the foregoing means nothing can be done to improve our effectiveness.  As my Swedish grandmother Stena used to say, “The room for improvement is the biggest one in our house!”  

To get started, or fine tune your professional development efforts, listen in to an interview I did recently with Elizabeth Irias from Clearly Clinical (an approved provider of CEU’s for APA, NBCC, NAADAC, CCAPP, and CAMFT).  Available here: What Every Therapist Needs To Know: Lessons From The Research, Ep. 61.  

In it, I lay out several, concrete, evidence-based steps, practitioners can take to improve their therapeutic effectiveness.  It’s FREE, plus you can earn a FREE hour of CE credit.  Additionally, if follow them on Instagram and leave a comment on this post, you’ll be automatically entered into a contest for one year of free, unlimited continuing education — the winner to be announced on September 30th, 2019.

Until next time,

Scott

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence

–

Look at the picture to the left.  What do you see?

In no time at all, most report a large face with deep set eyes and slight frown.  

Actually, once seen, it’s difficult, if not impossible to unsee.  Try it.  Look away momentarily then back again.

Once set in motion, the process tends to take on a life of its own, with many other items coming into focus. 

Do you see the ghostly hand?  Skeletonized spine and rib cage?  Other eyes and faces?  A clown hat?

From an evolutionary perspective, the tendency to find patterns — be it in clouds, polished marble surfaces, burn marks on toast, or tea leaves in a cup — is easy to understand.  For our earliest ancestors, seeing eyes in the underbrush, whether real or illusory, had obvious survival value.   Whether or not the perceptions or predictions were accurate mattered less than the consequences of being wrong.   

In short, we are hardwired to look for and find patterns.  And, as researchers Foster and Kokko (2008) point out, “natural selection … favour[s] strategies that make many incorrect causal associations in order to establish those that are essential for survival …” (p. 36).   

As proof of the tendency to draw incorrect causal associations, one need only look at the field’s most popular beliefs and practices, many of which, the evidence shows, have little or no relationship to outcome.  These include:

• Training in or use of evidence-based treatment approaches;
• Participation in clinical supervision;
• Attending continuing education workshops;
• Professional degree, licensure, or amount of clinical experience;

Alas, all of the above, and more, are mere “faces in the clouds” — compelling to be sure, but more accurately seen as indicators of our desire to improve than reliable pathways to better results.  They are not.

So, what, if anything, can we do to improve our effectiveness?

According to researchers Stiles and Horvath (2017), “Certain therapists are more effective than others … because [they are] appropriately responsive … providing each client with a different, individually tailored treatment” (p. 71).   

Sounds good, right?  The recommendation that one should “fit the therapy to the person” is as old as the profession.   The challenge, of course, is knowing when to respond as well as whether any of the myriad “in-the-moment” adjustments we make in a given therapy hour actually help. 

That is until now.

Consider a new study involving 100’s real world therapists and more than 10,000 of their clients (Brown and Cazauvielh, 2019).  Intriguingly, the researchers found, therapists who were more “engaged” in formally seeking and utilizing feedback from their clients regarding progress and quality of care — as measured by the frequency with which they logged in to a computerized outcome management system to check their results — were significantly more effective. 

How much, you ask? 

Look at the graph above.  With an effect size difference of .4 σ, the feedback-informed practitioners (green curve) were on average more effective than 70% of their less engaged, less responsive peers (the red).

Such findings confirm and extend results from another study I blogged about back in May documenting that feedback-informed treatment, or FIT, led to significant improvements in the quality and strength of the therapeutic alliance.

Why some choose to actively utilize feedback to inform and improve the quality and outcome of care, while others dutifully administer measurement scales but ignore the results is currently unknown — that is, scientifically.  Could it really be that mysterious, however?  Many of us have exercise equipment stuffed into closets bought in the moment but never used.  In time, I suspect research will eventually point to the same factors responsible for implementation failures in other areas of life, both personal and professional (e.g., habit, lack of support, contextual barriers, etc.).

Until then, one thing we know helps is community.  Having like-minded to interact with and share experiences makes a difference when it comes to staying on track.  The International Center for Clinical Excellence is a free, social network with thousands of members around the world.  Every day, practitioners, managers, and supervisors meet to address questions and provide support to one another in their efforts to implement feedback-informed treatment.  Click on the link to connect today.

Still wanting more?  Listen to my interview with Gay Barfield, Ph.D., a colleague of Carl Rogers, with whom she co-directed the Carl Rogers Institute for Peace –an organization that applied person-centered principles to real and potential international crisis situations, and for which Dr. Rogers was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987.  I know her words and being will inspire you to seek and use client feedback on a more regular basis…

OK, done for now,

Scott D. Miller, Ph.D.
Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence

P.S.: Registration for the Spring 2020 Advanced and Supervision Intensives is open!  Both events sold out months in advance this year.  Click on the icons below for more information or to register.