Does Going to a Psychotherapist Mean You’re Mentally Ill? | The New Existentialists

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EXCERPT: Does going to a psychotherapist mean you’re mentally ill? If you want it paid for by your health insurance, then the answer is yes. Why? Because in order to get paid, your therapist is required to diagnose you with a mental disorder. Another way to think about this is that insurance companies cover health problems. From their perspective, if they are going to pay your therapist, she better be providing medical services that fix something wrong with you. If you’re simply there to shoot the breeze about your feelings, they aren’t obliged to pay.  Read the full post.

1. Elkins, D. N., Farley, F., Kammens, S. R., Raskin, J. D., Robbins, B.D., & Rockwell, D. (2012, March). A most dangerous manual. Panel to be presented at the 5th Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Pittsburgh.

2. Raskin, J. D. (2012, March). Ernst von Glasersfeld, radical constructivism, empirically supported treatments, and psychotherapeutic change. Paper to be presented at the 5th Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Pittsburgh.

3. Raskin, J. D. (2012, March).  Social justice counseling: A constructivist  appraisal. Paper to be presented at the 5th Annual Conference of the Society for Humanistic Psychology, Pittsburgh.

4. Raskin, J. D. (2012, April). How do clients change in counseling? A constructivist view. Paper to be presented at the Biennial Convention of the New York Mental Health Counselors Association, Albany, NY.

5. Rust, J. P., Raskin, J. D. , & Hill, M. S. (2012, April). Problems of professional competence among counselor trainees. Paper to be presented at the Biennial Convention of the New York Mental Health Counselors Association, Albany, NY.

6. Raskin, J. D. (2012, June). Resisting the critics’ story (or why constructivists can assert things and believe stuff). Keynote to be given at the 15th Biennial Conference of the Constructivist Psychology Network, Arlington, TX.

Here is a PDF of the PowerPoint slides for this presentation:
Constructivism and Instructive Interaction TLC

For more on constructivism, check out the website of the Constructivist Psychology Network.

Read the psychologists’ letter here.

I am a member of the open letter committee.

• PSY302 History and Systems of Psychology
• COU540 Psychopathology

The required books for these classes are as follows:

• PSY302 History and Systems of Psychology
  • An Introduction to the History of Psychology by B. R. Hergenhahn (Hardcover - Mar 11, 2008)
• COU540 Psychopathology
  • Psychopathology: Foundations for a Contemporary Understanding by James E. Maddux and Barbara A. Winstead (Hardcover - Dec 13, 2007)
  • Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, Sixth Edition by American Psychological Association (Paperback - Jul 2009)

“The Society recognises that a range of views exist amongst psychologists, and other mental health professionals, regarding the validity and usefulness of diagnostic frameworks in general and the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, in particular.

“However, there is a widespread consensus amongst our members that some of the changes proposed for the new framework could lead to potentially stigmatizing medical labels being inappropriately applied to normal experiences and also to the unnecessary use of potentially harmful interventions.

“We therefore urge the DSM 5 taskforce to consider seriously all the issues that have been raised and we would echo the American Psychological Association’s call for the taskforce to adhere to an open transparent process based on the best available science and in the best interest of the public.”

You can read the full BPS statement online.

The petition is available at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/.

The Society of Humanistic Psychology is a division of the American Psychological Association.

Raskin, J. D. (2011). On essences in constructivist psychology. Journal of Theoretical and Philosophical Psychology, 31(2), 223-239. doi: 10.1037/a0025006

Abstract:

The notion of essence in psychology is examined from a constructivist viewpoint. The constructivist position is summarized and differentiated from social constructionism, after which constructs are distinguished from concepts in order to position ontology and epistemology as modes of construing. After situating constructivism in relation to philosophical approaches to essences, the distinction between essences and kinds is examined and the presumed constructivist critique of essences in psychology outlined. It is argued that criticizing constructivism as an “anything goes” form of antirealism fails to grasp how constructivist psychology, by emphasizing structure and viability, does indeed place limits on the constructions people may hold. In applying a constructivist understanding of essences in general to those fundamental to human psychology, people can be seen as having three essential psychological qualities: they are closed systems, active meaning-makers, and irreducibly social beings. Yet a constructivist view also maintains that these psychological essences only hold while operating within and committed to a constructivist perspective. In other words, what counts as an essence always depends on one’s assumptions, or how one construes events. Finally, a personal construct theory model of essentialist and nonessentialist construing is introduced based on the assumption that everyone construes in both essentialist and nonessentialist ways at different times because doing so is pragmatically viable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)

At the time of this post, over 1300 people had signed the petition since it was posted October 22, despite the only publicity being word of mouth. The letter and petition are available at http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/dsm5/.

Keep track of how many people have signed.