Why Does GoodTherapy.org include a list of Psychotherapy & Counseling Approaches?
October 1st, 2007 |GoodTherapy.org recently updated its list of psychotherapy approaches and its list of concerns addressed. In response we received a small handful of emails from some thoughtful members with concerns about our lists:
“To be honest I think this section of the site is unwieldy and probably confusing to clients. There are way too many modalities and I don’t think clients really know what they all mean. I would omit it completely and let therapists describe what they do and state their modality in the body of their listing… just my 2 cents!”
“What the purpose of this website? If it is to simplify and facilitate the process by which clients find therapists, then I would suggest that listing every possible type of therapy is counter-productive and only obfuscates and makes more difficult a process which is, for most people, already difficult to understand.”
“If there is a feeling that all of these categories and distinctions truly need to be made, perhaps it could take place on a second level — if clients want it (i.e., on an optional basis) — after a basic choice such as individual, group, family, couples, or co-parenting (i.e, divorced couples) is made to Find a Therapist”
“I’m not sure what your goal is in spelling out several dozen types of approaches, but my concern is that we already have a language which only speaks to one another and having this exhaustive list adds fuel to the fire. In other words, what normal person (searching for a therapist) could possibly wade through such a detailed list???”
We were pleased to receive these emails because we totally agree that the lists of concerns and models can overwhelm and confuse some people. Also, it’s really nice to see that member’s are willing to take the time to stick up and care for others. In response I’d like to briefly explain why we have these lists and how we have them in such a way as to prevent overwhelming and confusing people:
So, why do we have these lists?
1. Some people want to search by therapy model and/or concern addressed. These two lists make it possible for people who want to find a therapist who uses a particular model of therapy or has a particular specialty to search for a therapist by these variables.
2. One goal of our website is to inform people about healthy psychotherapy. So, we created the list of approaches on our Models of Therapy page so people who are interested in understanding and learning about different psychotherapies can view summaries and browse to other related sites with more information (Please note: for those of you who visit the Models of Therapy page, we are currently working on an update which will add more content and therapies to the list).
So, what does GoodTherapy.org do to prevent from overwhelming and confusing people who don’t want a lot of information about psychotherapy models or treatable concerns?
1. If you go to our main search page you will see that the only variable people can search for a therapist by is zip code. This was intentional. This way people who don’t want more information don’t have it presented to them. For those who do want to search by other variables, there is a link on the main search page to the advanced search page where one can search by many different variables including therapy approaches and concerns addressed.
2. We limit the list of concerns as much as possible. GoodTherapy.org is often rejecting concerns which member’s want added to the list. For example, we get many requests to add particular addictions, and there are hundreds and hundreds of them. But, out of respect and care for the people who navigate this list, we try to keep our list as short as possible while at the same time representative of the broad spectrum of concerns treated by psychotherapy.
3. As much as possible GoodTherapy.org attempts to translate “psycho-babble,” medical model language (such as disorders, diagnoses, and illness related terms) into simple and straightforward concerns.
We hope this explanation eases all of your concerns. If there are others please don’t hesitate to let us know by replying. Click here to reply.
