To the editor: Guest contributor Jonathan Alpert’s op-ed overgeneralizes when it comes to the state of mental health treatment (“AI therapy isn’t getting better. Therapists are just failing,” Sept. 30). Of course there are some bad therapists as there bad surgeons and bad attorneys. However, there are many excellent therapists doing more than just listening to their patients.
I am a licensed psychologist in California and have utilized cognitive behavioral therapy for almost 50 years. CBT is an evidenced-based therapy that is widely taught in graduate schools. Listening to patients is of course very important, but it is not the only thing that well-trained therapists do. I teach my patients skills to overcome their fears, stop having panic attacks and reduce or eliminate obsessive-compulsive symptoms. Patients learn how to challenge their irrational thinking.
I, and my CBT-trained colleagues, are not in the “business of professional hand-holding” as indicated by Alpert. What we as professionals need to do is to teach consumers how to identify competent therapists and not turn people away from seeking the help they need.
Gerald Tarlow, Santa Monica
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To the editor: Excellent piece by Alpert on the sometimes risky consequences of psychotherapy that doesn’t go beyond empathy and validation. Fortunately, cognitive behavioral therapy has, for many decades, focused on the kind of active, problem-solving and often confrontative strategies that encourage people to face their fears and learn resilience and flexibility. I teach both my clinical psychology students and my patients the importance of the ancient Chinese wisdom, “Go straight to the heart of danger, for there you will find safety.”
Gerald C. Davison, Los Angeles
This writer is a professor of psychology at USC.