''"Crazy" Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work?'' is a book by the psychologist

Margaret Singer Margaret Thaler Singer (July 29, 1921 – November 23, 2003) was an American clinical psychologist and researcher with her colleague Lyman Wynne on family communication. She was a prominent figure in the study of undue influence in social and ...

and the sociologist

Janja Lalich Janja Lalich ( born 1945) is an American sociologist and writer. Lalich is an expert on cults and coercion, charismatic authority, power relations, ideology and social control. She is a professor emerita of sociology at the California State ...

. It was published by

Jossey-Bass John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclope ...

in 1996.

Content

Singer and Lalich's intended audience is

psychiatric Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of deleterious mental conditions. These include matters related to cognition, perceptions, mood, emotion, and behavior. Initial psychiatric assessment of ...

and

psychotherapy Psychotherapy (also psychological therapy, talk therapy, or talking therapy) is the use of Psychology, psychological methods, particularly when based on regular Conversation, personal interaction, to help a person change behavior, increase hap ...

patients. They discuss a list of severe warning signs that psychotherapy patients should pay attention to, regardless of the psychotherapist's credentials or reputation. They discuss these in detail and quantify them into ten classic behaviour patterns. These include potential

sexual abuse Sexual abuse or sex abuse is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using physical force, or by taking advantage of another. It often consists of a persistent pattern of sexual assaults. The offender is re ...

; asking the patient to perform menial chores; discussing the psychotherapist's own problems in detail; asking the patient to cut off relations with friends and family; diagnosing the patient's condition before thoroughly discussing the issue; claiming the patient must be

hypnotized Hypnosis is a human condition involving focused attention (the selective attention/selective inattention hypothesis, SASI), reduced peripheral awareness, and an enhanced capacity to respond to suggestion.In 2015, the American Psychological ...

in order to sort through past memories; treating patients as if they all have the same

psychological Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Its subject matter includes the behavior of humans and nonhumans, both consciousness, conscious and Unconscious mind, unconscious phenomena, and mental processes such as thoughts, feel ...

root cause of illness; claiming to have a magical miracle technique; utilizing a checklist to find out if the patient suffers from an illness that the psychotherapist specializes in; and finally, demanding that the patient accept certain

religious Religion is a range of social- cultural systems, including designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relate humanity to supernatural ...

metaphysical Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of h ...

pseudoscientific Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

beliefs in order to continue psychotherapy. Specific therapies include those that espouse beliefs in "possession by spirit entities,

past-life regression Past life regression (PLR), Past life therapy (PLT), regression or memory regression is a method that uses hypnosis to recover what practitioners believe are Past life memory, memories of past lives or reincarnation, incarnations.alien abduction Alien abduction (also called abduction phenomenon, alien abduction syndrome, or UFO abduction) refers to the phenomenon of people reporting what they assure to be the real experience of being kidnapped by extraterrestrial beings and subje ...

Primal therapy Primal therapy is a Psychological trauma, trauma-based psychotherapy created by Arthur Janov during the 1960s, who argued that neurosis is caused by the Psychological repression, repressed Psychological pain, pain of childhood trauma. Janov argued ...

and other unverified cathartic therapies, reparenting, rebirthing,

neurolinguistic programming Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) is a pseudoscientific approach to communication, personal development, and psychotherapy that first appeared in Richard Bandler and John Grinder's book '' The Structure of Magic I'' (1975). NLP asserts a c ...

(NLP),

facilitated communication Facilitated communication (FC), or supported typing, is a scientifically discredited technique which claims to allow non-verbal people, such as those with autism, to communicate. The technique involves a facilitator guiding the disabled person ...

(FC), Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (

EMDR Eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) is a form of psychotherapy designed to treat post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). It was devised by Francine Shapiro in 1987. EMDR involves talking about traumatic memories while engaging ...

), Neural Organization Technique (NOT) and a host of other unscientific notions".Review
''Crazy Therapies'', May 29, 1997, Robert Carroll. According to Singer and Lalich (1997:167), "crazy therapies" are promoted using several techniques. "One is to start a certification program soon after conjuring up a new procedure" and "another is to seduce customers with rash promises and endorsements from acolytes and sycophants." Singer and Lalich (1997:195) advise that if a therapist is saying "I don't understand it but it sure does work", that could be a red flag. "Or if he's answering your questions with a lot of

jargon Jargon, or technical language, is the specialized terminology associated with a particular field or area of activity. Jargon is normally employed in a particular Context (language use), communicative context and may not be well understood outside ...

you don't understand, insist on straightforward explanations. Or if he's telling you that it's tried and true, do some independent research and find out what the critics are saying". "In many cases such fad therapies are promoted by people who are (1) imposing an agenda that may not fit your needs and (2) abandoning testing and science. Well meaning as they may be, remember, its your emotions and your pocketbook that are being played with".Singer, Margaret & Janja Lalich (1997). Crazy Therapies: What Are They? Do They Work?. Jossey Bass, p167-195. .

Reception

The book was reviewed by

Philip Zimbardo Philip George Zimbardo (; March 23, 1933 – October 14, 2024) was an American psychologist and a professor at Stanford University. He was an internationally known educator, researcher, author and media personality in psychology who authored mo ...

, who wrote in ''Behavioral Interventions'' that the book revealed situations in which therapists can become "persuasive agents of destructive influence". Zimbardo, Philip, ''Behavioral Interventions'', April 2001,

Robert Todd Carroll Robert Todd Carroll (May 18, 1945 – August 25, 2016) was an American author, philosopher and academic, best known for '' The Skeptic's Dictionary''. He described himself as a naturalist, an atheist, a materialist, a metaphysical libertarian, ...

stated that the book describes "surreal pseudoscience at its worst". He added that Singer and Lalich had helped to expose "some of the worst psychotherapy has to offer".

References

External links

longer book review
skepdic.com

ICSA {{Anti-psychiatry 1996 non-fiction books American non-fiction books Books by Janja Lalich Books by Margaret Singer English-language non-fiction books Psychology books Jossey-Bass books

Content

Reception

See also

References

External links