Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to demystify three “magical” cults and five corresponding dogmas in clinical psychology and psychotherapy that are now accepted on faith and determine most of current 1on1, f2f, tb practices. Apparently, both uncritically and normatively accepted cults are believed and considered as the main, if not the sole, ways to improve maladjustment or even deal with psychopathology. The influence of these cults is by now so pervasively ingrained in our clinical evaluative, preventive, and therapeutic practices that to propose otherwise is akin to being viewed as traitor and risking alienation from the mainstream establishment of clinical psychology and psychotherapy communities (Barlow, 2011; Castonguay, Boswell, Costantino, Goldfried, & Hill, 2010; Dimidjian & Hollon, 2010). The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments (McHugh & Barlow, 2010) has contributed substantially to the legitimacy of these cults.
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L’Abate, L. (2013). The Cults of Psychotherapy. In: Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy as a Science. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-4451-0_3
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