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"Crazy" Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work?
A startling--and often downright amusing--expose of the alternative philosophies and practices that can be found in today's ever-growing psychotherapeutic marketplace. The book describes actual case histories of people who participated in a variety of controversial therapies, including alien abduction, past lives regression, and aromatherapy.
263 pages, Hardcover
First published September 27, 1996
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 29, 2025
What a repulsive and unpleasant little book! I agree with the authors on all of the unethical and disturbing therapies that are covered, but beyond that our parallel opinions end. The two authors can barely go a few paragraphs without wheeling on the reader and snivelingly insisting again how amazing their modalities of therapy are and how wonderful and professional therapists as a whole are. This includes a particularly funny paragraph where the authors wet eyed explain that hypnosis is amazing and safe when THEY do it. The authors are also unable to keep their smugness about how superior their therapy is out of wry and mocking little comments about the victims of these forms of "crazy" therapy, including victims of rape by therapists. There is also an insistence on the power of therapy and therapists as something that is almost absolute, which is the only reason why these BAD therapists are harmful. Very offputting read. Only learned a little bit of new information and I wish it had been a Wikipedia article instead. 0 stars
September 11, 2024
A SURVEY AND ANALYSIS OF VARIOUS "NONSTANDARD' OR "FAR OUT" THERAPIES
Co-author Margaret Thaler Singer is a clinical psychologists and emeritus adjunct professor at UC Berkeley; Janja Lalich is a writer and specialist in cults. They have also cowritten 'Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace.'
They wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, "This book was written to help consumers become aware of the vast array of psychotherapies being offered by a variety of practitioners in the mental health marketplace today. The therapies range from widely accepted, scientifically based treatments to traditional but scientifically researched methods to those that typically are the creation of an individual and often have even less grounding in scientific validation and professional acceptance. Our aim is to explore primarily those that fall within the latter category.
"The therapies described in this book have been and continue to be controversial... We have selected the term 'crazy' to describe some of these therapies... to refer to something as controversial, nonstandard, or 'far out,' and sometimes to depict fads or current enthusiasms. Some of these therapies will fade from the scene... yet others might be driven out by consumer complaints and legal actions." (Pg. xi)
They add, "This book will survey some of the more popular and wild-eyed concepts and procedures that have taken hold in our society, and will examine and critique them as HEALING techniques. We intend to shed light on the potential dangers of some of these methods, including the increasing occurrence of iatrogenic damage, that is, damage to the client induced by the therapist." (Pg. 5-6) Some of the therapies surveyed are reparenting/rebirthing; past-life regression; Channeling; Alien abductions; sex therapy, etc.
They suggest, "When a person goes to a therapist known and spoken of in the community as an expert on ET abductions, the client is already influenced, or primed, by such ideas. She may feel, for example, that the therapist will only like her or work with her if she reports ET abductions, and that her pain and distress no matter what their origin will be treated only if she presents ideas the therapist is interested in, and she knows that he is interested in ETs. Similarly, a lonely patient who feels insecure and unworthy may be fantasizing that she will become part of a new, emerging 'special group'---that is, those allegedly abducted and experimented on by space aliens. Being a 'contactee' will allow her to be a 'special person.'" (Pg. 96-97)
They observe, "In previous chapters we mentioned parent bashing as a main theme that has permeated psychotherapy since Freud's day. This development has for the most past gone unchallenged as a core feature of much psychotherapy. Underlying this approach is a heavy reliance on one or two notions: one, that getting insight will automatically change conduct; the other, that emotional catharsis will make you a more perfect being. The perpetuation of these three ideas has helped bring us to where we are today." (Pg. 201)
This is a unique survey, that will be of great interest to anyone studying these more "off the wall" kinds of therapies.
Co-author Margaret Thaler Singer is a clinical psychologists and emeritus adjunct professor at UC Berkeley; Janja Lalich is a writer and specialist in cults. They have also cowritten 'Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace.'
They wrote in the Introduction to this 1996 book, "This book was written to help consumers become aware of the vast array of psychotherapies being offered by a variety of practitioners in the mental health marketplace today. The therapies range from widely accepted, scientifically based treatments to traditional but scientifically researched methods to those that typically are the creation of an individual and often have even less grounding in scientific validation and professional acceptance. Our aim is to explore primarily those that fall within the latter category.
"The therapies described in this book have been and continue to be controversial... We have selected the term 'crazy' to describe some of these therapies... to refer to something as controversial, nonstandard, or 'far out,' and sometimes to depict fads or current enthusiasms. Some of these therapies will fade from the scene... yet others might be driven out by consumer complaints and legal actions." (Pg. xi)
They add, "This book will survey some of the more popular and wild-eyed concepts and procedures that have taken hold in our society, and will examine and critique them as HEALING techniques. We intend to shed light on the potential dangers of some of these methods, including the increasing occurrence of iatrogenic damage, that is, damage to the client induced by the therapist." (Pg. 5-6) Some of the therapies surveyed are reparenting/rebirthing; past-life regression; Channeling; Alien abductions; sex therapy, etc.
They suggest, "When a person goes to a therapist known and spoken of in the community as an expert on ET abductions, the client is already influenced, or primed, by such ideas. She may feel, for example, that the therapist will only like her or work with her if she reports ET abductions, and that her pain and distress no matter what their origin will be treated only if she presents ideas the therapist is interested in, and she knows that he is interested in ETs. Similarly, a lonely patient who feels insecure and unworthy may be fantasizing that she will become part of a new, emerging 'special group'---that is, those allegedly abducted and experimented on by space aliens. Being a 'contactee' will allow her to be a 'special person.'" (Pg. 96-97)
They observe, "In previous chapters we mentioned parent bashing as a main theme that has permeated psychotherapy since Freud's day. This development has for the most past gone unchallenged as a core feature of much psychotherapy. Underlying this approach is a heavy reliance on one or two notions: one, that getting insight will automatically change conduct; the other, that emotional catharsis will make you a more perfect being. The perpetuation of these three ideas has helped bring us to where we are today." (Pg. 201)
This is a unique survey, that will be of great interest to anyone studying these more "off the wall" kinds of therapies.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews