What People Need and Want from Therapy

A great new article by Linda Michaels, our Chair and Co-Founder, What People Need and Want from Therapy: Advancing Access to Quality Care. Linda brings PsiAN's market research to a general audience, highlighting key results that support therapies of depth, insight and relationship, such as 68% of people want to get to the root of their issues. She explains how apps and other approaches, like manualized therapy, lack a strong evidence base and result mainly in relapse - not sustained benefit. Linda also outlines what makes for effective therapy, and how the insurance industry, venture capital and a consumerist focus are all barriers to real access and quality care.

Excerpt:

The courageous kids and young adults in Ken Burns’ new documentary by Erik Ewers & Christopher Loren Ewers, Hiding in Plain Sight: Youth Mental Illness, show how emotional suffering takes root and grows in silence and shame, without regard for race, gender, identity, social or economic circumstance. Maclayn, age 11, with his fine blond hair and cherubic face, projects the lightness and innocence of a carefree child. Only his large, round eyes betray inner wells of sadness, and we’re startled as he speaks calmly and movingly about his desire to end his life when he was just nine years old. The stories of Maclayn and the others in this documentary could not be more timely, as increased suffering and need for care collide with our distressed mental health system. Read the article.

December 2022