Why Therapy Fails One of the most common reasons patients contact me is to find out why the therapy isn&#39;t working. They may be TEAM-CBT patients or patients of therapists using other approaches. Therapists also ask for consultations on the same problem--why am I stuck with this or that patient who isn&#39;t making progress? In the Feeling Good App, my colleagues and I have been looking into this as well. Most app users report excellent and often rapid results, but some get stuck, in just the same way they might get stuck in treatment with a therapist. I have tried to organize my thinking on this topic, because if you can diagnose the cause of therapeutic failure, you can nearly always find a solution. Of course, the app is not a treatment device, but a wellness device, but the same principles apply. So today, Rhonda, Matt and I discuss a couple reasons why therapists and patients alike sometimes get stuck. Matt described a patient who was misdiagnosed with a psychotic disorder who turned out to have sleep apnea. When the proposer diagnosis was made and treated, the patent suddenly recovered. Rhonda described a patient who jumped from topic to topic and always brought up a new problem before completing work on the previous problem. This problem was solved when Rhonda explained the importance of sticking to one problem for several sessions, until the problem was resolved. The patient then began to make progress. David described a depressed woman from Florida who was stuck in treatment, and not making progress, and then the therapist said &quot;I just can&#39;t help you,&quot; This hurt and confused the patient who wrote to me. There were essentially two problems--the patients depression what brought her to therapy in the first place, and her unresolved hurt feelings when the therapist &quot;gave up&quot; on her. This problem reflected many failed relationships is the patient&#39;s life. This was resolved when the patient took the initiative to schedule a session to talk about the conflict more openly with excellent results. In addition, the patient had heard that she &quot;should&quot; accept herself, but didn&#39;t know how to accept her constant self-critical troughs and intensely negative feelings. I suggested she make a list of the benefits of her negative thoughts and feelings, as well as the many positive things they showed about her and her core values as a human being. She came up with an extremely impressive and long list! For example, her criticisms showed her high standards, her humility, her dedication to her work, her accountability, and much more. In addition, she&#39;d achieved a great deal because of her relentless self-criticisms. I asked her why in the world she&#39;d want to accept herself, given all those positive characteristics She decided NOT to accept herself, and was delighted with her decision. She said she felt profound relief! An unusual, but awesome, path to acceptance! In other words, she ACCEPTED her &quot;non-acc

373: Why Therapy Fails

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