Bad Therapist
At a moment when therapy speak has made it into the mainstream and trauma is a national preoccupation, it’s high time to examine the shadow side of mental health.
Bad Therapist Podcast takes an amused, informed look at the bad actors mucking around in the world of psychology. Cads, opportunists, and charlatans have been a part of this field since the beginning; some of them have even made lasting contributions to the field. Co-hosted by psychotherapist Ash Compton and journalist Rachel Monroe, both big fans of therapy and big critics of those who abuse its insights, Bad Therapist delves into two centuries of sketchy behavior, spanning everything from questionable nineteenth-century hypnotists to the TikTok-famous therapy hustlers.
Latest episodes
Nov 21, 2024 • 1h 5min
The Sullivanians - A Therapeutic Commune Gone Wrong
Rachel & Ash discuss the Sullivanians/Fourth Wall community, a collective of self-credentialed therapists with great real estate and solid politics that, can you believe it, turned into something pretty sinister. SOURCES: -The Sullivanians: Sex, Psychotherapy, and the Wild Life of an American Commune by Alexander Stille - https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-sullivanians-free-love-psychotherapy-and-the-wild-life-of-america-s-largest-urban-commune-alexander-stille/18789052 -The Sullivanians - Through a Blue Window podcast, by Shelley Feinerman https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-sullivanians-through-a-blue-window-c-2019/id1697359383 -https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/24/archives/-good-me-or-bad-me-the-sullivan-approach-to-personality-starting.html (https://www.nytimes.com/1972/09/24/archives/-good-me-or-bad-me-the-sullivan-approach-to-personality-starting.html) - Crowley, R.M. (1971). *Notes on Sullivan’s Approach to the Science of Man.* *Contemporary Psychoanalysis*, 8(1), 64–70. - Crowley, R.M. *Harry Stack Sullivan as Social Critic.* William Alanson White Institute of Psychiatry, New York. Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.
Nov 18, 2024 • 12min
Welcome to Bad Therapist
Rachel Monroe and Ash Compton introduce Bad Therapist. Topics include: the conception for the pod, their bad therapists, and, somehow, puppets. Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.
Nov 16, 2024 • 1min
Trailer
Welcome to Bad Therapist, a podcast about the shadow side of mental health, and the scammers and manipulators who reside there. Cads, opportunists, and charlatans have been a part of the world of psychology since the beginning; some of them have even made lasting contributions to the field. Bad Therapist delves into two centuries of sketchy behavior, spanning everything from questionable nineteenth-century hypnotists to the TikTok-famous therapy hustlers. At a moment when therapy speak has good mainstream attention and trauma is a national preoccupation, it’s high time to examine the dark side of mental health. Hosted by Ash Compton (a psychotherapist) and Rachel Monroe (a journalist), both big fans of therapy and big critics of those who abuse its insights. Produced by Zoe Kurland. Music by Flock of Dimes.
