The Future of Therapy-Magnets

The Future of Therapy-Magnets, Groups, and Smartphones

The Future of Therapy-Magnets, Groups, and Smartphones

Gateway Question 15.10: What will therapy be like in the future? Therapy has come a long way since the days of trepanning and demonology. Still, the search for ways to improve therapy remains an urgent challenge for those who devote their lives to helping others. Therapy in the future will likely include some things old and some things new (Norcross, Hedges, & Prochaska, 2002):

• More therapy provided by lower cost master’s-level practitioners (counselors, social workers, and psychiatric nurses).

• Greater use of short-term therapy and solution-focused, problem-solving approaches.

• More precisely targeted medical therapies with fewer side effects.

• Greater reliance on group therapies and self-help groups run by paraprofessionals.

• Increased use of Internet services and telephone counseling to distribute mental health services.

As you might imagine, many of these predicted changes are based on pressures to reduce the cost of mental health services. Psychiatrists and clinical psychologists are expensive to train. There are too few to take on primary responsibility in all cases. Similarly, longer-term insight-oriented therapies, in particular psychoanalysis, are an expensive luxury. The Future of Therapy-Magnets, Groups, and Smartphones.

New Medical Therapies Neuroscience research continues to probe the functioning of the brain and its various parts in ever-greater detail (Freberg, 2010). As a result, more precisely targeted medical therapies with fewer side effects will continue to be discovered (Morgan & Ricke, 2008). For example, a new technique called transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) uses magnetic pulses to temporarily block activity in specific parts of the brain. Unlike surgical lesioning, TMS is non- invasive and is reversible (see • Figure 15.6).

By applying TMS to parts of the frontal lobe, Paulo Boggio and his colleagues (2010) were able to change the way people made decisions while gambling. It is not a long stretch to imagine that this technique might become a powerful adjunct therapy together with cognitive therapy to treat compulsive gambling (Ladouceur, Lachance, & Fournier, 2009). Similarly, patients with obsessive- compulsive disorder have shown marked improvement when TMS disrupted brain areas involved in compulsive behavior (Mantovani et al., 2010). The Future of Therapy-Magnets, Groups, and Smartphones.

Group Therapy

Because it is cost-effective, group therapy, psychotherapy done with more than one person, will become more common in the future. This is a trend that began some 50 years ago when psychologists first worked with groups because there was a shortage of