Welcome to Critical Therapy Antidote
This is a website for all those involved with talking therapies, including academics, practitioners, trainees and clients, who are concerned by the negative impact of Critical Social Justice Theory.
Latest Articles
The Importance of Maintaining an Evidence-based Approach in CBT
Preamble In October 2021, The British Association of Behavioural and Cognitive Therapists’ (BABCP) published a piece in CBT Today by the founders of the ‘Women and Gender Minorities Equality Special Interest Group’ (WOMGENE). It suggested that implementing the following five recommendations would reduce violence against women, as follows: “Five things you can do to help …
My Resignation from the American Psychological Association
I’ve been a member of the American Psychological Association (APA) for years, and a fellow for the past six or seven years. I sat on their Council of Representatives, which theoretically sets policy for the APA, for 3 years. I am just ending my term as president of the APA’s Society for Media and Technology, …
Calibrating Gillick* in the Age of Gender Wars: Part 1: Background to the Current Crisis in Gender Therapy
* NB: For non-UK readers. The original Gillick case in 1985 addressed the issue of the capacity of young people under 16 years in England and Wales to consent to medical treatment (Gillick v Norfolk AHA [1985]). It determined that young people under 16 could consent, without requiring parental knowledge or consent, if they demonstrated …
Calibrating Gillick* in the Age of Gender Wars: Part 2: The Curious Case of the Tavistock
Applying Gillick at the Tavistock The past year has seen a dizzying series of legal decisions about young people’s capacity to consent to puberty blocking drugs for gender dysphoria at the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS). In December 2020, the GIDS’ consent procedures for under 16’s were overturned via a judicial review brought by …
Why Your Woke Therapist May Be Doing You More Harm Than Good
Popular forms of social justice activism are creeping into psychology training programs and therapist offices. Even if woke theory is your preferred path to social justice (there are others), this creates a “buyer-beware” situation. Unlike friendships, intimate partnerships, parenting or collegial teamwork, psychotherapy is a relationship that is all about one person—you, the client. The …
LGBT Research and the Push for a UK Ban on Conversion Therapy
LGBT issues in relation to therapy are increasingly in the spotlight at present within the UK. Calls for a government ban on conversion therapy are gaining ground. At an Albany Trust event, Stephen Fry referred to conversion therapy as ‘this wretched business’. 1 In the House of Commons debate, responding to an e-petition on the …
White Therapists, Trainers and Supervisors – Mend your Ways!
Black Identities and White Therapies: Race, Respect and Diversity. Edited by Divine Charura and Colin Lago. PCCS Books 2021 A Review Colin Feltham You may find this cynical but I want to begin with the assertion that we all protect and advance our own self-interest and that of our group, even when it is not …
British Psychology: Where are we now?
A year ago, I wrote a letter to the governing body of British Psychology (The BPS), raising concerns about the direction the organisation, and the discipline, was taking. Specifically, I was concerned about the organisation’s promotion of the overtly political Critical Social Justice ideology, which I believed threatened the scientific integrity of the discipline, prevented …
Moving Forward: Considerations for Responding to Changes in the Training Standards for Therapists
Since May 2020 following the death of George Floyd, I have become concerned about trends in the focus and direction of my social work profession. I am a clinical social worker in the United States. After completing an undergraduate degree in psychology in the mid 1990’s I decided to pursue a Master of Social Work …
Political Bias at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy
I’ve been a member of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) since 2013. By far the largest professional membership body for counsellors and psychotherapists in the UK, with over 50,000 members, the BACP has considerable influence over the provision of counselling education through accredited training programmes, and on the continued professional development of …
One-Dimensional Intersectional Psychobabble
Intersections of Privilege and Otherness in Counselling and Psychotherapy: Mockingbird by Dwight Turner (2021) A review by Colin Feltham Where to begin a review of a book of this kind? Since the author declares himself at the outset a black, heterosexual, able-bodied man, perhaps I should declare myself a white, heterosexual, able-bodied man. Turner and …
Is Psychotherapy a Safe Space for ‘Political Dissidents’?
Looking back to the 1970s, I always understood psychotherapy as something free from religion and politics. Its focus was the individual client and his or her distress, turmoil, or need to explore the idiosyncratic inner life. Although the 1960s and 1970s were culturally momentous in many ways, some of us turned to therapy as more …
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