Is cbt ineffective or do i just need a new therapist?

[Suzetig]

That would be the same here @anthony - you can't practice for payment without a qualification but all qualifications aren't created equally. You also see counselling and psychotherapy used interchangeably where in other countries counselling implies a less formal, more surface level, short term arrangement with lesser trained practitioners. So, we all might counsel others at times in our lives but "counselling" as a professional endeavour needs some form of qualification but some are much more qualified than others. Always worth checking the qualification and the post qualifying experience (both number of hours and where gained).

 

[lostforgottensoul]

you don't need any qualification in Australia to be a counsellor.

- you can't practice for payment without a qualification

Same here as well (on both accounts) and I am unsure if non-educated unexperienced "counselors" can require payment to them directly (seems to differ State by State) but they can require donation to, say, a church they "counsel" in. At least in Kansas they can. I went to 4 of these "counselors" in Kansas. I call them "therapists" because that's what they were acting as, in my opinion. And because "counselor" and "therapist" seems to mush together as the same thing in US Society.

Two were "pastoral counselors" and though they do have a degree, it's in theology, not mental health. Some do go down the road of getting the degrees in psychology or counseling but many don't. These two didn't. They f*cked with my head and it took a long time to undo what they did.

And then two were "counselors" working with a church.

All of them got very, VERY, deep into my mental state, issues, trauma (ish as I was still in denial) but none of them had a licence to practice mental health counseling (though not on paper, that is exactly what they practiced) and all required money - a donation to the church, which, if it is against the law to require payment to them directly in Kansas, that is how they get by with it. It doesn't go directly to them but I am sure they are paid by the church or else why do it? Either way, it was money out of my pocket.

Here is something else I found:

In Massachusetts, where my counseling practice is, the term “Mental Health Counseling” is regulated. However, the term “psychotherapy” is not (and some say the term “counseling” alone isn’t).

Hence, unlicensed providers can hang a shingle and provide “psychotherapy” without breaking any laws.

Counselors Practicing Without a License: Is it Legal? - Counseling and Life Coaching - Find a Counselor

So, it seems it differs by State.

When I google "how to become a therapist" , under experience is says

Between 2,000 and 4,000 hours of supervised clinical experience (required)

How to Become a Therapist | Education and Career Roadmap

Not sure where that graph is on the site. It came up on google but that is WAY different then 50 hrs, credit hrs or not. And it is supervised.

So, the light research I did seems very condradicting here in the States but maybe that is also due to State by State laws differing as well. Apa.org is a huge site but just simply googling "mental health counseling regulation in the United States" and "psychotherapy regulation in the United States" neither seem to yeild any results. If there was a federal regulation, something would come up. That fact and this: The Federal and State Role in Mental Health tells me that the federal role is protection of the mentally disabled and funding to the States and it is the State's role to regulate what and how.

 

[anthony]

The problem here, is that you can counsel for money right now. Politicians have claimed they will close that loophole. Here though, counsellors are surface interactions only. They're not allowed to perform trauma therapies. Just the basic counselling principles (CBT, Person Centred, etc) and techniques. If a person has trauma, counsellors are to refer them to a psychologist here. They won't last in court if they didn't, as trauma (PTSD level trauma) is well outside the scope of counselling techniques. That was two years ago they were claiming to close the loophole here... yet to see it though.

it worked well in therapy coupled with Emdr & other modalities while being ushered by a well known psychiatrist

Yep -- exactly as you cited, with EMDR and other modalities. Hypnotism is a relaxation method, it is an adjunct. It has no actual value itself other than inducing a relaxation, mediative state. I'm not disagreeing with any of this. But hypnotism did not treat your trauma, EMDR and other modalities did that. People claiming hypnotism is a trauma treatment are frauds, and those who counsel people and start trying to drum up new business with their claims of hypnotism with CBT being a trauma treatment. They should be banned from psychological treatment.

Sure... trauma if you loosely define the word to mean, I fell over and skinned my knee, now have anxiety over it. Call that trauma if you want -- but its not real trauma in the sense of meeting PTSD level trauma.

There are lots of third party treatments that work for some people. None of that means they passed scientific validation for trauma. It means they exist and they work for a minority. Hey... if the main treatments aren't working, I say try everything to find what works for you. But these treatments are not mainline and not considered primary or secondary treatment methods for PTSD. They should not attempt to be advertised as such either, as its highly misleading.

Like I said earlier, its like those running off on tangents right now with MDMA claims, and that you should roll up to your local ecstasy dealer and apparently taking ecstasy will cure your PTSD. NOPE. It will make you a drug addict, thats for certain. MAPS do not claim MDMA treats or cures PTSD. They claim it helps to relax the person to such a level the therapist can get all the secrets negatively affecting them, out, lessening their PTSD symptoms. It also makes them much more receptive to learning techniques and applying them within therapy, without so much resistance.

No different than the marijuana issue right now. A lot of misinformation out there. People read only what they want to read, they take only what they have convinced themselves of usually. Tell a stoner its causing them more issues than it helps, most will fight it to the bitter end. Get them off of it, they suddenly feel a whole lot better, can rationalise thoughts and memories, process them and get better and on with life. Marijuana was doing nothing but holding them back, masking symptoms and making their cognitive processing worse, not better.

Lots of misinformation on many topics.