Over the years almost every conceivable form of
doing, believing, acting, reacting, hoping, touching, fighting, loving, moving,
emoting, provoking, etc., ad nauseam, has been turned into some form of
psychotherapy -- this term acts as an umbrella for them all. A few of these have
shown their worth in controlled settings and with proper evaluation and
follow-up of cases (e.g., sex therapy); others serve mainly as sources of income
for therapists and as something new to try for people who drift psychically
about looking for someone somewhere to inject some meaning into their lives.
Some of the more exotic forms extant (as of this writing anyway, most are
shortlived) are body therapy, poetry therapy, encouragement therapy, rebirthing
therapy, and imagination therapy. One hardly knows what to make of these. There
are essentially no attempts made to validate the techniques used, no basis for
determining success or lack of it, and, most damning, no reasonable theoretical
basis for assuming that any of them ought to work -- short of plain old common
sense. After all, poetry is certainly a good thing, and reading, writing and
understanding poetry would probably have therapeutic value for anyone.
Psychology as a pure and applied science is certainly not served well by what
has been called this "southern Californiaizing" of society.
