Plus, Thomas Szaas, TV Shrinks, and more!

David and Rhonda are joined today by David's neighbor, friend, and hiking buddy, Dave Fribush. He has incredible technological skills, and wisdom. We thank Dave for his support of our podcasts!

We open the podcast with a wonderful email from a fan named Sushant who listened to Feeling Good Podcasts for nine hours during a rigorous hike to the "Tiger Monastery" in Bhutan. You can see Sushant and his phone, showing the podcast icon, just in front of the monastery.

Rhonda encourages podcast fans from around the world to send photos of yourself listening to the Feeling Good Podcast in additional unusual or exotic locations! Might be fun to see what you send to us!

Here are the questions for today's program:

Ann asks: Loved your podcast (on the exposure model, #26)! But I do have a question - I have suffered from panic attacks for years - the past 2 years I've become agoraphobic and don't want to be far away from my house. So, my phobia is now "having panic attacks." Does that mean I just need to go out and have a bunch of panic attacks in public to get over my fear? The thought seems terrifying.

Also, I am severely claustrophobic which affects me anytime I feel trapped (elevators, small cars, traffic, tight spaces, etc.) Is there a protocol you used to treat patients with this? Just wanted to suggest perhaps a podcast on this subject, or agoraphobia, as it does affect many people worldwide.

Nathan asks: Dear David, Love your podcasts. I am currently preparing a lecture for psychology honors students here at Monash University on assessment of depression and anxiety. In your podcasts you mention that you conducted a "study on the psychiatric inpatient unit at the Stanford Hospital, in which I evaluated how accurate therapists’ perceptions of patients were after an interaction. Student researchers interviewed patients for several hours as part of a research study on psychiatric diagnosis."

I was wondering if you could provide me with a reference to this study? I could not find a specific reference in your website and I would like to be able to highlight to student's the results of your research.

Richard asks: I listened to your podcast on being worthwhile and found it interesting. You say all people are worthwhile. This may be true but does the whole world think this?

If a person is worthwhile but the world thinks they are not worthwhile, isn't this almost as bad as not actually being worthwhile. Don't we have to play by the world’s rules, however bad, instead of our own or the Platonic rules? What do you think?

Robert asks: Dear David. I am up to podcast #108. I am heading to India next month for a three-week trek and am going to download the rest onto my phone. Perhaps by the time I get back, I will be up to date!

I have never heard you mention Tom Szasz, who, as I am sure you know, was making some of the same observations about the constructs of medicalizing you make back in the 1960s and maybe even in the 50s. In particular, his criticism of the psychiatric industry giving the names of diseases or syndromes to behavioral issues was very consistent with yours.

Robert also asks: My other question is an idea for future podcasts and it is...How about critiquing the therapeutic approach we see so often on television and in the movies? For the lay audience, these are probably the source of much of what they know about therapy. And because these therapists are well-known and fictional, it would give you an opportunity to make critiques without having to criticize an actual person. And it could introduce some levity into what can often be quite heavy.

Some of the Hollywood therapists people know best are:

Judd Hirsch as the shrink in Ordinary People
Lorraine Bracco as the shrink in The Sopranos
Peter Bogdanovich as the shrink's shrink in The Sopranos
Billy Crystal as the shrink in Analyze This!
Robin Williams in Good Will Hunting
Kelsey Grammer in Frasier

I am sure there are many others. These are the ones who quickly came to mind

I just found an article about this that might help make the case that what the public sees on TV and in the movies is not really reflective of the therapeutic process or good therapy. Here’s the link:

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/therapists-on-the-big-and_b_4263798

Thanks for tuning in!

David and Rhonda

References for Nathan

Burns, D., Westra, H., Trockel, M., & Fisher, A. (2012) Motivation and Changes in Depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research DOI 10.1007/s10608-012-9458-3 Published online 22 April 2012.

Hatcher, R. L., Barends, A., Hansell, J. & Gutfreund, M.J. (1995). Patients' and therapists' shared and unique views of the therapeutic alliance: An investigation using confirmatory factory analysis in a nested design. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 63(4), 636 - 643.

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