Negative Effects of Therapy | |
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Helpful Links: PsychPage links on Beginning Therapy Behavioral Family Therapy Bowenian Family Therapy Defenses The DSM IV Therapist/Client Matching Findings on Preparation for Therapy Suicide Assessment The Therapeutic Relationship- Part I The Therapeutic Relationship - Research and Theory The Ingredients of Psychotherapy Strategic Family Therapy | Theoretical and Empirical Bases for Negative Effects Smith and Glass (S&G) found that about 12% and S&S about 11% of all therapy patients get worse. The problem with just quoting stats is that there is more to negative effects than this. Studying negative effects requires a definition of negative effects, and possibly of primary and secondary negative effects as well. Both the definition of negative effects and the implied definition of positive effects stem from one's definition of mental health. This depends on who is defining mental health - society, the individual, or the therapist. Thus, deviations from societal norms could be considered a negative effect by society, but might not by a therapist. A patient leaving therapy after "learning a better defense" but not "improving" by dealing with some "underlying issue" might be a negative effect to the therapist but a positive effect to the patient. If this occurred in under 6 sessions, this might be a positive effect to the insurance company too. In a couple that seeks marital counseling and ends up getting divorced, the wife may believe this to be a positive effect of therapy, the husband a negative effect. A patient that leaves therapy having "found" themselves but without any altruistic sense of responsibility to the community would be a negative effect to other societies. Strupp and Hadley surveyed the "biggies" in psychotherapy and give several examples of negative effects 1)an exacerbation of symptoms, 1)inaccurate or deficient assessment of strengths and abilities |