In this episode of the Being Well Podcast, Dr. Rick and Forrest explore one of the major topics in psychology today: how to understand evidence-based care, and the tension between mainstream and alternative approaches. Using the recent IFS controversy as a backdrop, they discuss what it means for an approach to be evidence-based, the real-world dangers of inflated claims, and therapy’s complex relationship with the medical model. They get into the weeds on study design, effect sizes, insurance, why different approaches may or may not have a large body of evidence, and how to think about the research on “common factors” in therapy. Dr. Rick and Forrest offer a simple framework for making good decisions amidst all of this complexity.

Key Topics

• 0:00: Introduction: that IFS article
• 5:02: Context and Background
• 7:27: Psychotherapy as medicine vs. personal growth practices
• 15:31: “Don’t know” mind versus “durrr who knows?” mind
• 19:50: What counts as evidence?
• 29:58: What does it mean for a therapy to be evidence-based?
• 42:38: How do we know therapy works?
• 53:45: Getting on your own team
• 59:07: Complexities with the medical model
• 1:10:24: How insurance and the healthcare system complicate the picture
• 1:18:27: Dr. Rick’s top two takeaways
• 1:29:05: Recap

Forrest is now writing on Substack, check out his work there.