Mental Health Training Programs and Pseudoscience (Energy Healing, Reiki, Chakras, etc.)

[WPMO]

I recently came across a post on Reddit from a student claiming that their program is reaching "Chakra Psychology" in three hour long lectures from faculty, Reiki, and Energy Healing. This is apparently an LPC-track program that is accredited by CACREP. I have heard of these practices in Counseling and Social Work before (and to a somewhat lesser degree in Psychology).

I care a lot about opposing this type of pseudoscientific treatment, so I know I pay attention to these issues a lot. I may therefore have an attentional bias and overestimate how often this type of practice happens. How often do you all see this in the field? How big of an issue is it? Do you all have ideas about how we can deal with this type of practice? Below is the comment I saw:

I am including this link here only so you all can see it to inform discussion here. Please do not brigade the post.

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[AcronymAllergy]

It's, unfortunately, pretty rampant in the field, particularly among providers with a less-solid background in critical research consumption. I'm not surprised to see it taught in some programs at this point, although it's still disappointing.

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

Hell, pseudosciences like IFS, brain spotting, and somatic experiencing have proliferated to the point that they are almost entering the mainstream of trauma therapy in lots of circles.

 

[WisNeuro]

Hell, pseudosciences like IFS, brain spotting, and somatic experiencing have proliferated to the point that they are almost entering the mainstream of trauma therapy in lots of circles.

Feelz over Realz.

 

[psychma]

It is truly disheartening to hear my peers looking for brain spotting therapy or swooning over EMDR. Many clients come looking for these particular therapies because they have become so mainstream. It is up to practitioners to educate themselves and to educate clients.

 

[futureapppsy2]

FWIW, I did my postdoc at a major research center at a major research university that offered reiki classes to patients. 🤷‍♀️

 

[Fluidity of Movement]

There are pt/clients who are anti-western medicine and anti-"therapist". I'd rather have someone who at least has a license doing this **** with them than a random swindler online who knows literally nothing about mental health science.

Just like with all psychological theory, none of it is "true" but it can be a useful perspective / lens to look at things. If someone wants to align their chakras while talking to someone then so be it. The point is that people don't get left out, not that it's an actual thing based in reality. This pretty much summarizes the entirety of religion / rituals / traditions.

At least this is what I tell myself. Some of my friends in MH see crystals using folk and I can only hope they aren't with the swindlers.

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

This pretty much summarizes the entirety of religion / rituals / traditions.

Therapists being nothing but secular priests is a bad thing. It isn’t good for therapy to be comparable to religion in this way.

 

[itsmelily]

I recently came across a post on Reddit from a student claiming that their program is reaching "Chakra Psychology" in three hour long lectures from faculty, Reiki, and Energy Healing. This is apparently an LPC-track program that is accredited by CACREP. I have heard of these practices in Counseling and Social Work before (and to a somewhat lesser degree in Psychology).

I care a lot about opposing this type of pseudoscientific treatment, so I know I pay attention to these issues a lot. I may therefore have an attentional bias and overestimate how often this type of practice happens. How often do you all see this in the field? How big of an issue is it? Do you all have ideas about how we can deal with this type of practice? Below is the comment I saw:

I am including this link here only so you all can see it to inform discussion here. Please do not brigade the post.

As an individual who has focused her studies and career on topics such as acculturation, trauma, a humanitarian aid, have you considered the possibility of becoming well-versed in transpersonal psychology and how beneficial that can be in the world today? I find it applicable if these programs skim the surface to allow clients to have a voice and state their truths holistically. How do you feel about this, and their possible addition to personal theories and narratives, not as a substitution of scientific form?

 

[R. Matey]

IME, CACREP will do anything for money so I'm not that surprised.

 

[itsmelily]

Therapists being nothing but secular priests is a bad thing. It isn’t good for therapy to be comparable to religion in this way.

I highly doubt this is geared towards initializing priesthood. It’s a body of knowledge. Subjective, surely, but it remains pertinent to some people. Why is it necessary to remove the person from something that may sometimes be so crucial to them? Why not work around it? Why not be able to listen? Aside, we remove people from problems, maybe their beliefs are the “problem” but I’d see it more conducive to work with someone with a broad view of the “problem” than simply pointing it out without enough context to know why they are even in said “hole” to begin with.

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

I highly doubt this is geared towards initializing priesthood. It’s a body of knowledge. Subjective, surely, but it remains pertinent to some people. Why is it necessary to remove the person from something that may sometimes be so crucial to them? Why not work around it? Why not be able to listen? Aside, we remove people from problems, maybe their beliefs are the “problem” but I’d see it more conducive to work with someone with a broad view of the “problem” than simply pointing it out without enough context to know why they are even in said “hole” to begin with.

There's nothing crucial to patients' mental healthcare embedded in doing Reiki, IFS, or brainspotting. Cultural considerations can be made and implemented in ways which are amenable to science-based practices, and if there is then it isn't a therapist's job to provide that piece. If the person believes there is a spiritual or element to their problem, they can seek spiritual guidance from someone whose role it is to provide that, not from psychotherapy. We can absolutely consider patients' cultural perspectives and explore how culturally-relevant beliefs may have impacted their current problem without then using pseudoscientific methods of treatment for that problem.

 

[EnPsychlopedia]

transpersonal psychology

This is not a valid subfield of scientific psychology.

 

[itsmelily]

There's nothing crucial to patients' mental healthcare embedded in doing Reiki, IFS, or brainspotting. Cultural considerations can be made and implemented in ways which are amenable to science-based practices, and if there is then it isn't a therapist's job to provide that piece. If the person believes there is a spiritual or element to their problem, they can seek spiritual guidance from someone whose role it is to provide that, not from psychotherapy. We can absolutely consider patients' cultural perspectives and explore how culturally-relevant beliefs may have impacted their current problem without then using pseudoscientific methods of treatment for that problem.

I’m not really thinking of specific practices. Like Reiki or any of that. In fact, I don’t believe any of that should be included in any session or direct access via a mental health practitioner. As for your final sentence, I do agree that it is not a therapists place to use “pseudoscientific” practice as treatment. Do I find there should be courses teaching this? No. Would knowledge of culturally applicable belief systems be beneficial to a session, to not corner a client based on their beliefs, yes - in a listening and open-minded practice. The goal is to engage to reach a consensus that maintains a client in a “systematic” treatment to help, not isolate them. And in a sensitive situation or circumstance where beliefs are discounted there is a fine line between they staying and not. That’s a pretty difficult issue handled by stigma and a lack of consensus that mental health is important. Maybe [we] need to help via context-sensitive and relevant scientific solutions that focus on much more than what [we] are accustomed to. Every day new possibilities arise to help eliminate barriers and extend the grasp a client has on their own mental health accompanied by professional guidance based on science. Limiting that would be limiting mental health and practitioners as well.