CBT : science or economic propaganda ?

For some years now Cognitive Behavioural Therapies have successfully held the therapy field persuading governments and health authorities with claims that unlike other therapies, for instance, humanist or psychodynamic, the efficacy of CBT is based on scientifically observed evidence. While CBT may be helpful for some seeking help with anxiety, the claim that it is the panacea for all, including those who are suffering from severe anxieties, fears and other emotional stresses, surely deserves closer scrutiny. Increasingly others are questioning the truth that CBT is evidence-based. However CBT has powerful political and economic allies attracted by the various claims made that it is scripted and time-limited and provides a one size fits all therapy.

Last November (2014), Limbus, an organisation which arranges Continued Professional Development events for counsellors and psychotherapists in the south-west England held a national conference, Challenging the Cognitive Behavioural Therapies : The Overselling of CBT’s Evidence Base, at the Dartington Hall near Totnes in Devon which sought to challenge the evidence provided to substantiate the claims made for CBT. The organiser of the conference, Farhad Dalal has provided us with the following links to presentations made at the Dartington Conference and to other related papers. We offer them here because the predominance of CBT is increasingly evident in the support which is offered to children and young people.

We’ve provided below some to the papers and articles Farad Dalal has brought our notice to but there are more articles, blogs, videos of conference presentations and other resources available from this page on the Limbus website.

Conference Papers

Dalal, F. (2015) Statistical Spin: Linguistic Obfuscation—The Art of Overselling the CBT Evidence Base

Shedler, J .(2015) Where is the evidence base for evidence-based therapy?

Ferraro, D. (2015) Torture, Psychology and the Neoliberal State.

Henrich, M., Heine, J. & Norenzayan,S. (2008) The Weirdest People in the World

Greenhalgh, T. (2014) Evidence based medicine: a movement in crisis?

Shedler, J.(2010) Shedler (2010) The Efficacy of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

Adams, S. (2008) Naughty not N.I.C.E.: Implications for therapy and services

Breen, L., Darlaston-Jones, D (2008) Moving Beyond the Enduring Dominance of Positivism in Psychological Research

Longmore, R. and Worrell, M. (2007) Do we need to challenge thoughts in cognitive behavior therapy?

Samuels, A.& Veale, D.(2007) Improving Access to Psychological Therapies: For and Against

Western, D., Novotny,C., & Thompson,H.(2004 )The Empirical Status of Empirically Supported Psychotherapies: Assumptions, Findings, and Reporting in Controlled Clinical Trials