I love this article, Selda! One of the biggest issues with many of these “toolkits” is how we've come to over rely on them, expecting them to work in ways that human complexity resists.
Oh! I hadn't fully considered the role positive psychology played in this shift.
Thank you, Dom. I taught positive psychology at uni for several years and I know first hand how people were quick to come up with interventions and implement them based on correlational studies. It's come to a better point now in terms of scientific understanding, but some damage has already been done I'm afraid.
This is a great article that points also to the challenges of sticking a group of adults into a "skills group" with the same purpose as with these kids you wrote about. It just isn't for everyone and so doesn't work as an umbrella solution for people wanting to improve their mental health and relational skills. I have experienced this first hand.
I was aware of this research, thanks for highlighting it again. In my country we have a mass roll out of Mental Health First Aid education campaigns... with absolutely no evidence it actually helps people help people with serious mental illness. I think there's evidence it decreases stigma, and on the back of that it's rolled out nationwide as an evidence based skills program... It's basically a very expensive awareness raising campaign, strong focus on the noisy middle, the distressed life difficulties cohort... focused on medicalising life difficulties as mental illness and I had the liberty of walking out...
I love this perspective and this is also why, as a family therapist, I generally don't treat children individually.
You didn't say this specifically, but I also think this is a call to invest in classroom teachers of all varieties. Well-resourced and not burnt out teachers are very often the trusted adult who is able to promote resilience in children who aren't able to get it at home.
The trouble is most homes are not the places you describe some of the time and some are rarely that place. Children go back to homes where there is trouble, problems, tragedy in some cases. If the world was the place you seem to think it is then mindfulness etc would be unnecessary. But when your parent is alcoholic, abusive, missing, has mental disorder, residency issues, terminal illness, etc then access to this work is pretty essential and if other kids develop understanding then it will help the classroom environment be a better place also.
That's true. I actually wrote a few paragraphs about this aspect for this post but then removed it as the post was getting too long. I thought it would be better to address that aspect in a separate piece where I have more space to elaborate. This is one of the reasons why interventions in schools fail. Unless the family dynamics change, the children don't get the benefits.
Unless the children learn to process and navigate their parent's coming death in an okay-ish way, all the wellbeing modules in the world won't help - and I think the point is that those are the kids that the school based modules don't help! I think the comment about family dynamics is very true when those dynamics include a dying parent... all the wellbeing modules in the world are unlikely to help those kids. Unless the family dynamics change... which in this scenario is unlikely.
I'm not suggesting that we change those dynamics. I'm explaining why some interventions don't work for some children (like the one in the research I discussed in the post). They did not consider the family or the classroom environment; that's the reason the intervention failed.
And I'm well aware of those dynamics you mentioned (and it's a very fair point), I've worked with many families in the last 20 years. I'm not sure why you assume that I think the world is full of happy families. That's not what I said in my post at all. My post isn't about that really, it's about those families where there isn't big dysfunctions and I hope to cover more in the following posts.
As a language teacher, I’ve also thought about all of the trendy interventions, the schools of thought that are ‘in’ right now, that, for some reason, we feel the need to keep up with. Somehow in all this, the relationship always seems to come last.
This is a real eye-opener for me. I’m learning what a simple creature I am in terms of emotional and mental health. My reaction to any situation seems to be limited to: love/hate; happy/sad; excited/bored. Maybe I’m just a house cat masquerading as a human being. Thanks for giving me a look at what’s going on with more advanced organisms!
It is inspiring to read your support for healthy relationships, rather than “toolkits.” And, as a psychotherapist, to read such clear theoretical support for classical psychodynamic therapy. Thanks again!
I was treated for MDD from the 80s with desipramine until about 2018 when we realized it was bipolar. Lamictal didn’t fix it, ECT did as of May 2024.
I happen to like tools: they’re functional and reducing pain was my overriding goal. CBT baby, I think of cognitive reframing as a wrench and I loved it.
But tools are reactive. I worked in the IT department in a luxe company and they spent all day fighting fires. It was brutal, I was just a contractor. Hardest working people I’ve ever seen holding the lines while trying to put together the upgrades that will change things.
The stuff you’re talking about makes me imagine that department with a budget.
I love this article, Selda! One of the biggest issues with many of these “toolkits” is how we've come to over rely on them, expecting them to work in ways that human complexity resists.
Oh! I hadn't fully considered the role positive psychology played in this shift.
Thanks for highlighting that.
Thank you, Dom. I taught positive psychology at uni for several years and I know first hand how people were quick to come up with interventions and implement them based on correlational studies. It's come to a better point now in terms of scientific understanding, but some damage has already been done I'm afraid.
This is a great article that points also to the challenges of sticking a group of adults into a "skills group" with the same purpose as with these kids you wrote about. It just isn't for everyone and so doesn't work as an umbrella solution for people wanting to improve their mental health and relational skills. I have experienced this first hand.
Wonderful
I was aware of this research, thanks for highlighting it again. In my country we have a mass roll out of Mental Health First Aid education campaigns... with absolutely no evidence it actually helps people help people with serious mental illness. I think there's evidence it decreases stigma, and on the back of that it's rolled out nationwide as an evidence based skills program... It's basically a very expensive awareness raising campaign, strong focus on the noisy middle, the distressed life difficulties cohort... focused on medicalising life difficulties as mental illness and I had the liberty of walking out...
Hi Heather, thanks for this. May I ask where you're based?
I love this perspective and this is also why, as a family therapist, I generally don't treat children individually.
You didn't say this specifically, but I also think this is a call to invest in classroom teachers of all varieties. Well-resourced and not burnt out teachers are very often the trusted adult who is able to promote resilience in children who aren't able to get it at home.
Thanks, Cody. You're absolutely right about classrooms and teachers. I touched on it briefly but it requires a separate piece as it's super important.
Great article. Had me thinking. (We’re having a little one soon.)
The trouble is most homes are not the places you describe some of the time and some are rarely that place. Children go back to homes where there is trouble, problems, tragedy in some cases. If the world was the place you seem to think it is then mindfulness etc would be unnecessary. But when your parent is alcoholic, abusive, missing, has mental disorder, residency issues, terminal illness, etc then access to this work is pretty essential and if other kids develop understanding then it will help the classroom environment be a better place also.
That's true. I actually wrote a few paragraphs about this aspect for this post but then removed it as the post was getting too long. I thought it would be better to address that aspect in a separate piece where I have more space to elaborate. This is one of the reasons why interventions in schools fail. Unless the family dynamics change, the children don't get the benefits.
You aren’t making any sense. Explain how you change the family dynamics of a parent having terminal illness.
Unless the children learn to process and navigate their parent's coming death in an okay-ish way, all the wellbeing modules in the world won't help - and I think the point is that those are the kids that the school based modules don't help! I think the comment about family dynamics is very true when those dynamics include a dying parent... all the wellbeing modules in the world are unlikely to help those kids. Unless the family dynamics change... which in this scenario is unlikely.
I'm not suggesting that we change those dynamics. I'm explaining why some interventions don't work for some children (like the one in the research I discussed in the post). They did not consider the family or the classroom environment; that's the reason the intervention failed.
And I'm well aware of those dynamics you mentioned (and it's a very fair point), I've worked with many families in the last 20 years. I'm not sure why you assume that I think the world is full of happy families. That's not what I said in my post at all. My post isn't about that really, it's about those families where there isn't big dysfunctions and I hope to cover more in the following posts.
You’re piece reminds me of something published on Aeon earlier this year: https://aeon.co/essays/i-am-a-better-therapist-since-i-let-go-of-therapeutic-theoryI am a better therapist since I let go of therapeutic theory | Aeon Essays
Thanks for sharing.
As a language teacher, I’ve also thought about all of the trendy interventions, the schools of thought that are ‘in’ right now, that, for some reason, we feel the need to keep up with. Somehow in all this, the relationship always seems to come last.
Thanks, Timothy. I remember reading that article. Thank you for sharing that and your comment.
This is a real eye-opener for me. I’m learning what a simple creature I am in terms of emotional and mental health. My reaction to any situation seems to be limited to: love/hate; happy/sad; excited/bored. Maybe I’m just a house cat masquerading as a human being. Thanks for giving me a look at what’s going on with more advanced organisms!
It is inspiring to read your support for healthy relationships, rather than “toolkits.” And, as a psychotherapist, to read such clear theoretical support for classical psychodynamic therapy. Thanks again!
Thanks, Bruce. You wanted to drop me an email but I never received one.
Ah. I thought I had, but perhaps I forgot. I’ll get something out to you asap. Thanks for reminding me!
Maybe you did but I never got it. I'll double check my spam.
I was treated for MDD from the 80s with desipramine until about 2018 when we realized it was bipolar. Lamictal didn’t fix it, ECT did as of May 2024.
I happen to like tools: they’re functional and reducing pain was my overriding goal. CBT baby, I think of cognitive reframing as a wrench and I loved it.
But tools are reactive. I worked in the IT department in a luxe company and they spent all day fighting fires. It was brutal, I was just a contractor. Hardest working people I’ve ever seen holding the lines while trying to put together the upgrades that will change things.
The stuff you’re talking about makes me imagine that department with a budget.