This article is a couple of years old, but I find myself returning to it every once in a while as I move from undergrad into grad school and am beginning to navigate what it means to be a therapist in today’s world. The title is somewhat misleading as it’s not giving any credence to the majority of Freud’s theories (most of which have been debunked although without his work, many believe psychotherapy today would not exist).
I’m honestly very happy to be coming up during this time when holistic approaches to psychology/psychotherapy are becoming the method being instructed and embraced – there are benefits to having multiple tools to use for multiple issues. CBT is really rad for short-term, adjustment mental health crises and crisis management, but long-term, life-long pervasive personality disorders do benefit from long-term therapy (albeit frequency wears down when the client isn’t in active crisis or feels good about handling their symptoms).
No one is the same, no course of depression/anxiety/etc is the same, therefore not all treatments will be the best every single time. And it’s a shame that insurance companies keep trying to box in mental health with limited visits and coverage only for one type of therapy because so many people will go, get through their initial crisis, then not have any time to develop skills needed for next time. They are left feeling abandoned and that therapy didn’t work for them, and research shows that this cyclical process is what leads to increases in harmful coping strategies (alcohol/drug/self abuse, other risky behaviors) and increased suicide attempts/risks.
TL;DR: Freud was still wrong about SOOOOO many things, but there’s benefits for long-term therapy that CBT simply doesn’t offer.
Cardinal Point 