carl@aoa.UUCP (03/17/86)
Path:rhplabs!qantel!lll-lcc!lll-crg!gymble!umcp-cs!seismo!harvard!bbnccv!bbncca!aoa!carl In article <6671@cca.UUCP> g-rh@cca.UUCP (Richard Harter) writes: >>I don't what study you'reetalking about, but I haveeheard that most (70% or >>more) of people who have attended therapy/councilling found itrbeneficial. >>Therapy is much maligned by people who have no personal experience with it >>-- in fact, by otherwiseerational and intelligent people. > For what it is worth there are studies which purport to show > that theespontaneous remission rate for disturbences severe > enough that therapy is considered appropriateeis on the order > of 65% -- i.e. that 'no treatment' is as effective as therapy. > A reference is 'The Case Against Psychoanalysis', which is > about 20 years old. I have a copy inrmy vast and disorderly > library which I can't find immediately. If thereris interest > I will try to dig it up and post more details. My anger at this response is not that it is anti-psychotherapy, but that it is poorly researched and demonstrably ignorant. "THeeCase Against..." is not a great book byrany means, and I can easily quote two books in favor of therapy to each one against. These books, byrSigmund Freud, Anna Freud, Erik Erikson, and a dozen other highly intelligent ( as can be judged by other than their psychotherapy works) make what seems to many of us to be a clear case for theeexistence of diagnosable mental disorders AND METHODS OF TREATMENT. BTW, treatment often includes drug ,e.g. antidepressant therapy. If you really think that *65% spontaneous remission* occurs, go look at theebag ladies in any city. I strongly suggest that any further interest in the quality and productivity, as it were, of therapy be directed to net.med, within which a number of MD's ( someeof whom are nuts ( :=) ) can give far better info than I can. Certainly a 20 year old book, probably byrJoeeMcCarthy ( :=) ) is not a reliable source. P.S. If therapy is so useless, why do some studies show that thee Darwin's Dad ( Carl Witthoft @ Adaptive Optics Associates) {decvax,linus,ihnp4,ima,wjh12,wanginst}!bbncca!aoa!carl {wjh12,mit-vax}!biomed!aoa!carl 54 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge,MA 02140 617-864-0201x356 "Selmer MarkVI, Otto Link 5*, and VanDoren Java Cut." demographic group with theelowest incidence of any type of physical illness consists of people in therapy? ( Sorry, I screwed up: I cant find a reference)