by Michael D. Anestis, Ph.D.
Thanks for various folks on Facebook for sharing this link. It's an interview in Time magazine with Alan Kazdin of Yale University, discussing the limitations of our current model of delivering mental health services. Don't let the title fool you though. Dr.Kazdin does not advocate for the end of individual therapy, but rather the end of our current system of treatment delivery. In other words: evidence-based treatments are fantastic, but we need people to actually receive them in order for them to fulfill their potential. As it stands, few therapists provide them and few consumers demand them if they demand/seek any treatment at all. Dr. Kazdin proposes that we find alternative modes to deliver treatment (e.g., self-help) with a greater likelihood of reaching consumers (albeit in an evidence-based manner to the extent that such a thing is possible) while instituting a system that informs clients of and steers them towards evidence-based treatments when more readily accessed means (e.g., self-help books) don't work out as hoped.
Definitely food for thought and very consistent with our views here at PBB. As always, I love seeing this conversation out there and love seeing eminent members of the field like Dr.Kazdin pushing the envelope on these issues in a forum read by large groups of people.
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Dr. Mike Anestis is a post-doctoral fellow with the Military Suicide Research Consortium.
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