Ideas

Don't think I would want one of my sessions being used. You do so by all means.

I think this would do more harm then good... It comes for a good place but these people who would watch this need professional help not a DVD

I think you might be on to something if you pose this as simulated therapy sessions. That is, the patient is an actor playing a role designed to illustrate a common problem. Very few people would want to air out their serious problems in public, and the ones that do are so damaged you should feel responsible for protecting them from that urge.

If you use scripted situations, you don't have the privacy issues about showing real sessions, the scripts can be designed to show real general problems that would be applicable to a broad audience, and it might cut down on the voyeurism if people knew these weren't real people they were spying on.

But I don't see this going much beyond reruns of Dr. Phil. Every person has a unique background that influences how they react and deal with any situation. Whether you use real or simulated sessions, the advice a therapist would give to one person might differ significantly from what they'd give another person who was in almost exactly the same situation.

I was thinking of it as a reality tv sort of thing. So you'd get people to sign a consent form. People go on those reality shows with very little reward. Maybe people go on Dr. Phil unpaid, but with the hopes of getting "therapy" on some level. I think that people's situations are often similar enough (see Stumbling Upon Happiness http://www.amazon.co...77692868&sr=1-1 ) that people would find it interesting. In the same way that a huge number of people out there (not me) find Dr. Phil riveting. To get anywhere near Dr. Phil's popularity would be phenomenal.

Come on Anathema - loosen up. We're all a little crazy.

Just to clarify my comment about Dr. Phil, I meant that I don't see this being much more _useful_ than Dr. Phil. I wasn't saying anything about popularity. I think most people watch Dr. Phil for a combination of voyeurism and schadenfreude, not actual therapeutic benefit.

I think it would probably be wildly popular for many of the same reasons Dr. Phil is, but I'd have serious ethical concerns about exploiting real peoples' problems (and I have the same ethical issues with Dr. Phil and most reality TV).

hmmm..........mixed feelings about this one.
Taped video therapy sessions are used commonly for training purposes within psychology. Therapists will also often tape sessions and use this with the clients to examine how the session went (e.g., analyze the interaction). There is certainly a need for greater "therapy literacy" - i.e., people considering therapy getting an idea of what is involved in the therapeutic process. However, most people can now access online therapy services that are reasonably good quality and learn more about what therapy would involve. Dr Phil type stuff is limited in that it shows only a very limited form of therapy.

What might work better is clients sharing their stories and different therapists commenting on how they would address the problem according to their theoretical orientation. Visitors to the site could learn more about the different therapy styles, get a sense of the therapy styles they like best and perhaps obtain a referral to someone similar.

There is potential in this idea but it really needs some work.

Dr. Furber,

Love your website BTW...and I know you're right.

I'm not an expert, but it seems to me that in a sense, therapy is a facilitated conversation with yourself. A therapist asks questions that make you think and guide through a process of (hopefully) self-discovery. You can go for weeks without having a significant breakthrough, then you're asked that one question that really strikes at the heart of your problem - reframes the core issue. Then you look at things in a completely different way.

I like your idea about therapy styles and therapy literacy. Those are laudible goals assuming that people will sit through enough of the video to get something out of it. My thought was to make things more granular and make the user's entry point line up with the need they perceive they have before going to therapy. They can then watch either entire therapy sessions with people who came in their the same complaint OR watch targeted snippets that show questions that helped those specific types of people have some sort of breakthrough.

In other words, instead of listing out "Disorders" in a menu, list "Issues/problems/complaints" instead. Then use relevant video to help people see the value in live therapy. They can then move on to the right therapist in their area and understand something about the drugs that might be helpful at the same time.

I have made some comments on another psychology idea here:
http://www.cambrianh...er/ideas-id/aFTBGTu/

Perhaps it is worth getting those people together who are interested in this aspect and having a discussion. It could realistically be launched under anyone's specific business idea. I am happy to work in a consultative role

ps - thanks for the nice words re: my website. It is very pleasing to get good feedback!

You should look at taping something with a little more entertainment value. Like hypnotist sessions, the ones where the people start talking about alien abductions.

I'm sorry I really have nothing to add but I read the entire thread here and I felt that I deserved the GP :)