Media Coverage

Media Coverage of “Current Status and Future Prospects of Clinical Psychology:
Toward a Scientifically Principled Approach to Mental and Behavioral Health Care”

Psychological Science in the Public Interest
Timothy B.Baker, Richard M. McFall, and Varda Shoham

The Wilson Quarterly

Winter 2010

Would you go to a doctor who was ignorant of the medical advances made since Harry Truman was president? No way. But the average clinical psychologist’s practice today doesn’t look much different than it did 60 years ago, and the patients keep coming.

Los Angeles Times
Debate over cognitive, traditional mental health therapy
January 11, 2010
by Eric Jaffe
If your doctor advised a treatment that involved leeches and bloodletting, you might take a second glance at that diploma on the wall. For the same reason, you should think twice about whom you see as a therapist, says a team of psychological researchers.

The New York Times
The Wrong Story About Depression

January 8, 2010
by Judith Warner
That people have come to believe otherwise may be in part because most patients with depression are treated by general practitioners, not psychiatrists. Studies have shown that these primary care doctors don’t strenuously enough screen their patients for depression before prescribing drugs, or closely monitor their care afterward.

Psychotherapy Networker
Is Therapy a Science?
January/February 2010
What does science have to do with what therapists actually do in their offices? According to a 36-page report from the Association for Psychological Science (APS), which was widely publicized by science editor Sharon Begley in the October 12 Newsweek, not a whole lot.

Scientific American Mind
Bringing Science Policies to Clinical Psychology
January 7, 2010
by Allison Bond
The high cost of health care is no secret. Revamping clinical psychology could be one way to make the system more efficient — while also helping psychologists better serve their patients, according to a recent report from the Association for Psychological Science.

NPR
The Science of Clinical Psychology
December 4, 2009

by Joe Palca
How solid is the science behind clinical psychology? A group of practitioners suggests a new accreditation system for clinical psychological research training programs may be necessary to help ensure that the methods used by clinical psychologists are up-to-date and backed by scientific research.

The Daily Page
Prof renews psychology controversy
November 5, 2009
Timothy Baker has a problem with psychology today. He thinks it bears a dangerous resemblance to the medicine of yesteryear: anecdotal, unscientific, as likely to hurt as help.

Nature
Psychology: a reality check
October 15, 2009

by Allison Abbott
Anyone reading Sigmund Freud’s original works might well be seduced by the beauty of his prose, the elegance of his arguments and the acuity of his intuition….

Psychology Today
How Deep is the Divide between Therapy and Science?
October 9, 2009
by Michael Steger
Is there a Mackenzie Phillips-sized family secret lurking in the heart of psychology? …

Los Angeles Times

Do therapists know what they’re doing? Don’t bank on it, 3 psychologists say
October 8, 2009
by Rosie Mestel
When we’re battling psychological problems and go see a therapist for treatment, we tend to trust that it’s doing us good. But should we?…

Newsweek
Ignoring the Evidence: Why do psychologists reject science?
October 2, 2009

by Sharon Begley
It’s a good thing couches are too heavy to throw, because the fight brewing among therapists is getting ugly…

The Chronicle of Higher Education
Report Calls for Added Science in Psychology Ph.D. Programs
October 2, 2009
by Simmi Aujla
A group of psychologists is proposing a new accreditation system for graduate psychology programs that offer Ph.D.’s, saying such programs should emphasize scientific training more than the current system does…

Science Magazine

Shrinking the Shrinks
October 2, 2009
by Constance Holden
Many training programs for clinical psychologists in the United States should be scrapped, an organization of psychologists says…

Nature.com
Quote of the Day
“The disconnect between what clinicians do and what science has discovered is an unconscionable embarrassment. [There is a] widening gulf between clinical practice and science.
-Walter Mischel of Columbia University say psychologists are increasingly out of step with science in their treatment of patients.

Washington Post

Is your therapist a little behind the times?
by Timothy Baker, Richard McFall and Varda Shoham
The practice of clinical psychology — which includes psychotherapy — is akin to medicine as it was practiced a century ago.