A big payout is on its way to Katrina Fairlie from NHS Tayside after therapy she was offered led to her accusing her father of rape: -
Katrina was undergoing recovered memory therapy in a psychiatric hospital in Perth when she made a series of allegations of sexual abuse by her father, former SNP deputy leader Jim Fairlie.
She later said those claims were completely untrue and a police investigation found there was no evidence of abuse
This wasn’t before her “memories” had ripped the family apart, however, and that is the basis of her claim.
Recovered memory “therapy” is now largely discredited and seems only to be available through various kooky organisations. But stories such as Katrina Fairlie’s are, I think, a useful reminder that talking therapies aren’t always the benign treatments they’re thought to be.
A few years back I read Mark Pendergrast’s book Victims of Memory on this subject. Shocking stuff, and very worth reading.
I haven’t heard much about this topic. I have requested Pendergrast’s book from the library, sounds interesting.
If my memory serves me right this form of therapy was very big in the 80′s, when increasing celeb’s also joined the bandwagon claiming sexual abuse. This caused many public family fractures.
Is this surprising?
We know that every intervention has risks and side effects.
Surely this is explained to everyone entertaining talking therapies?
Yeah, I believe Roseanne Barr had some memories “recovered”.
If anyone wants to an overview of the subject online, this article from the Skeptical Inquirer is a handy primer:
http://www.csicop.org/si/9503/memory.html
I like the idea of ‘entertaining talking therapies’. The mind boggles gently. Explaining the risks could be tricky.
I was walking past a sign advertising the services of a Therapist. The letter spacing was a little out. I noticed, for the first time, that it was actually a combination of two words (the first being the) and thought surely on a subliminal level that would put people off ever seeking the services of a therapist.
in ur treatment rooms, raping ur mindz! lol!
Wouldnt go near one for all the tea in china
Bloo, I fear that repeated exposure to cat macros is damaging your mental health.
No wai! OMG!!11! LOLZ!!
Dubious therapy from dubious therapists is nothing new. I remember the case of an eminent psychologist who was abusing his position to solicit sexual favours from vulnerable clients. He had a background in air traffic control. Staring at blips on a computer monitor all day long obviously didn`t nourish his caring instincts. More recently another psychotherapist managed to persuade a female client that her roles were to be his sexual plaything, lend him money and clean up after him. I`m still not sure whether to laugh or cry.
The world of psychotherapy seems to be an unholy, unregulated mess. There are over 500 types of psychotherapy and I`m not sure that any of them are more effective than a good chat with the wise, serene, maternal figure at the end of the street. They come into and go out of fashion like clothing on the High St and seem to attract practitioners who haven`t the stamina for nursing or have tired of selling used cars.
I despair of their research. Many people with mental health issues live in a degre of isolation and are grateful of any input. I have no doubt I could offer bingo and jaffa cake therapy and be assured of positive feedback.
CBT is the order of the day again. I`m reasonably pleased about that as it makes sense to address peoples thoughts and behaviours. But if it`s such a panacea, why did it spring to prominence and then fade away in the 70`s ?. And if it`s so effective in combatting depression why aren`t the therapists out there absorbed by the 3,500,000 on anti – depressants rather than ceaselessly trying to prove that it`s effective against PTSD and schizophrenia.
Don`t get me wrong, I want to see psychotherapies working. We need a major challenge to the shambles that is psychopharmacology. But in the end I don`t like psychotherapy for the same reason I don`t like psychiatry. They both dismiss good nursing care and simple interventions because they feel threatened by them. If psychiatrists couldn`t prescribe and psychologists couldn`t babble, they`d be too vulnerable to the question what do you do for your 70k / 40 k a year.
Emma Eckstein had her turbinates drilled by ENT surgeon Wilhelm Fleiss, an incredibly drastic and dangerous measure intended to ameliorate psychological suffering – Emma had been referred to Fleiss [along with several other female patients] by Freud.
The dangers of trusting anybody too much [unless there is very good reason to trust them] is exemplified by this prototype example of abuse at the hands of the “daddy” of psychotherapy, Sigmund Freud.
Why did Freud think it was OK to send these young women off to be operated on by a crazy ENT surgeon – what does it say about the power relationship between a powerful therapist and vunerable, younger patients ?
We already know that Freud disregarded disclosures about actual sexual abuse during therapy sessions – the bearded Austrian responded by developing the oedipus complex in order to explain these disturbing, and surely fabricated “stories”.
Like OSB I worry that psychological and pharmacological intervention has been let down by cack handed operators [including Freud it seems], while accepting that IN THE RIGHT HANDS psychotherapy and/or drugs may be lifesaving.
I suppose one of the dilemmas is finding out who that skilled practitioner is – assuming there is any choice at all, such as trying to obtain CBT, for example.
One method would be to publish performance data, [as surgeons are expected to do] – but quantifying mental health outcomes would be far more challenging in my view.
I don’t agree with everything he says but “Against Therapy” by Jeffrey Masson provides a cautionary account of the historical failings, and bizarre logic underpinning certain schools of talking therapy – it certainly costs a lot less than 10 years of psychoanalysis.
Had a quick look at poor Mr. Masson`s book on Amazon. Seems the poor chap spent 9 years in therapy before starting to question what was going on. I`ve no doubt he was a paying customer, raising the thorny issue of what incentive does the therapist have to bring the matter to closure. Brings to mind the Crocodile Dundee movie where Mr Dundee`s love interest reveals that she confides in a therapist. “Don`t ya have any mates ?” retorts Crocodile.
I have been looking for a definitive history of psychotherapy for a long while. As Mr. Masson`s effort seems to focus on psychodynamices I`m not sure he fills the gap in the market. Can`t help thinking the process of compiling a history would make any decent psychotherapist wince with embarassment. And I certainly think the Quangoistas who recently released a substantial sum of taxpayers money for CBT should haver a better grasp of the history of psychotherapy before they start signing cheques willy nilly.
Psychotherapy? I’ve had shedloads since the age of eighteen, the majority of which was as much use as a chocolate teapot. CBT seems a better bet but I’ve been turned down by my local trust – but have gleaned some information from books and the internet which I’ve been putting into practice and which is helpful.
The worst I ever had was a so-called therapy group run on Transactional Analysis lines. What a load of bollocks it was! The worried well, gazing at their navels and indulging in “rebirthing”. A degrading spectacle, that was. Some of them had been going to the group for years – an expensive form of social club.
In the end I told them, and the “therapist” where they got off and exited, “taking the door with me” as my Mum used to describe slamming said item. As I walked to my car, a wailing voice called after me “Come back, we love you!” Oh for crying out loud!
My local MDF support group is far better – peer support, interesting talks from guests such as psychiatrists and a psychiatric pharmacist and I’m going on a self management course next week – looking forward to it.