I read the Meehl article and promptly decided to add Meehl to my list of heroes. This is a big deal considering the fact that most of my heroes come from television. So Meehl is the first psychologist to officially be in Shari's list of heroes. I would love to present this article in class tomorrow, but watch...tomorrow will be the one day I'm not actually picked to present...Ok, onto a more mature reaction....
I absolutely loved that Meehl opened his article by comparing clinical experience to the "science" of diagnosing witches. It completely set the caustic tone for the rest of the piece. I believe a caustic, sarcastic tone is one of the best ways one can discuss the lack of science in the so-called science our class is entering. The sarcasm highlights how laughable the state of the field is and it emphasizes that changes need to be made if we (clinical psychologists) want to be taken seriously.
Meehl mentioned his "clinical laziness" when discussing his observations of males dreaming of fire (p. 93). From what I have read and heard about thus far, this laziness seems much too common. Imagine how much more SCIENCE (such as controlled experiments, hypothesis testing, statistical model creating) could be done if clinicians took more time to lay the groundwork by systematically organizing their observations and theories and finding a way to get them to the public! This way, those of us who work in labs wouldn't have to guess what was going on behind the closed doors of clinics and private practices. If there were more open communication between the psychologists who run experiments and the psychologists who "used" the results from these experiments, I think the field could increase at an exponentially faster rate. (I put "used" in quotes because it seems like some psychologists ignore experimental results to continue using what they know based on "experience". And I put "experience" in quotes because Meehl's article pointed out that this experience typically is garbage. Or at least "unavoidably a mixture of truths, half-truths, and falsehoods". And I put THAT in quotes because I took it word-for-word from the abstract on p. 91.)
I believe there is no excuse to using therapeutic methods that have no empirical support UNLESS these methods are being used to gain insight or make observations about a method that will be experimentally tested in the very near future. Psychologists are paid a LOT of money to help people and these people put their psychological well being in the hands of these "professionals". If they aren't using methods that are supported by cold, hard data, they don't deserve to be practicing. Perhaps I'll change my mind once I begin practicing myself...but I hope not. Because then I would be no better than the people I am currently badmouthing.
Wow, so I guess this was not my most mature writing ever. But it is definitely something I am passionate about and I am really looking forward to discussing this piece in class on Wednesday.
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I'm so happy you liked the Meehl piece. In it, I find that he is both sympathetic and, critically, empathetic when he discusses the issue of clinical laziness in making sound, scientifically-based judgments. Not only does he--the consummate actuarialist--admit to a clinical laziness of his own, he comes clean about having "no idea" how to study many of his personal theories of how psychotherapy can work. This lends real weight to his argument that, one way or another, at the end of the day, it is only evidence, old-school, empirical evidence, that really counts. That means we're all in a tough bind, because evidence is hard to get! Clinicians are tired at the end of the day, I can tell you, and the stuff they do is really difficult, so it is asking a lot of them to expect them to track what they are doing with their clients and make certain that what they are doing is having measurable effects. Hell, even Meehl rarely did it (he only did it once). And yet, it, or something like it, must be done. Here's a proposition: How can we, as clinical scientists, assist practitioners in streamlining and implementing their own case or other effectiveness studies? Can we develop tools to make this more convenient for them? Can we offer some other, more intrinsic, incentive? I think these kinds of questions are going to have to be answered if the practice community is ever going to integrate with the research community. I think we can help them do it, and if we do help them do it, I think we'll have helped our science.
PS: http://www.tc.umn.edu/~pemeehl/
Great use of quotes, Shari! It seems to often come down to words that remain entrenched between punctuation signifying the imaginary bubble that drops down and links diction to the mouth of a cartoon character.
I loved the Meehl piece as well - he is tough, but his self- evaluation and self-deprecation was both entertaining and endearing.
I'm interested to know how you feel about this as a future therapist!
So, it seems we may have a showdown at dawn, Miss Shari. I believe I feel about as strongly about the Westen et. al article (he is, indeed, one of my heroes, and I told him so once) as you do about Meehl.
Though I found much of his prose endearing, I thought his argument was largely mealy-mouthed (or is it Meehly-mouthed?), and his finer philosophical points often contradicted by his espousal of personal theories.
I won't go on about this, as I mostly touched on it in my rant in my blog, but I'll see you at sun-up, pard'ner.
(P.S. I think I maybe just posted this as an excuse to write "Meehly-mouthed.")
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