Very Bad Therapy – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Technical and general information from the podcast's RSS feed.

Very Bad Therapy

Ben Fineman and Caroline Wiita

Health & Fitness

Frequency: 1 episode/11d. Total Eps: 150

Very Bad Therapy is a closer look at what goes wrong in the counseling room - and how it could go better - as told by the clients who survived.

Site

RSS

Apple

Recent rankings

Latest chart positions across Apple Podcasts and Spotify rankings.

Apple Podcasts

🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
04/11/2025
#78
🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
02/10/2025
#71
🇺🇸 USA - mentalHealth
03/07/2025
#100
🇬🇧 Great Britain - mentalHealth
30/04/2025
#85
🇬🇧 Great Britain - mentalHealth
18/04/2025
#82
🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
19/12/2024
#98
🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
24/11/2024
#81
🇬🇧 Great Britain - mentalHealth
17/11/2024
#94
🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
17/10/2024
#78
🇨🇦 Canada - mentalHealth
30/09/2024
#75

Spotify

No recent rankings available

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Links found in episode descriptions and other podcasts that share them.

See all

https://www.verybadtherapy.com/contact
127 shares
https://www.verybadtherapy.com/bookshelf
72 shares
https://www.verybadtherapy.com
71 shares

https://www.facebook.com/verybadtherapy
82 shares
https://www.facebook.com/vbtpodcast
35 shares
https://www.facebook.com/vbtpodcast%20%20
19 shares

https://www.patreon.com/verybadtherapy
125 shares
https://www.patreon.com/verybadtherapy%20%20
1 share

RSS feed quality and score

Technical evaluation of the podcast's RSS feed quality and structure.

See all

RSS feed quality

To improve

Score global : 63%

Publication history

Monthly episode publishing history over the past years.

Year

Latest published episodes

Recent episodes with titles, durations, and descriptions.

See all

147. Termination Session

Monday, September 18, 2023 • Duration 45:56

Thank you for listening!

146. Patreon Selects: Carrie-Ben Therapy (aka CBT 2.0)

Monday, September 4, 2023 • Duration 01:11:44

Carrie and Ben create their own model of therapy. Goal setting! Psychoeducation! Exploitation and worrisome sales tactics! What does it say about psychotherapy when our progressively cynical efforts to develop a modality end up mirroring some of the norms in our field? This episode is evidence-based and supported by neuroscience.

Thank you for listening. To support the show and receive access to regular bonus episodes, check out the Very Bad Therapy Patreon community.

Introduction: 0:00 – 5:13

Part One: 5:13 – 1:08:54

Part Two: 1:08:54 – 1:11:44

Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Bookshelf / Tell Us Your Story

Show Notes:

Read moreCollapse

136. Very Bad Group Therapy

Monday, May 1, 2023 • Duration 01:18:18

What makes for effective group therapy? Cohesion, expectation setting, and as today’s guest Thomas can attest to, not having the therapist give the middle finger to a group member. We try to make sense of Thomas’ experience by looking into research on group therapy, and we also try to make sense of our own experience of failing to find a single group therapy expert.

Thank you for listening. To support the show and receive access to regular bonus episodes, check out the Very Bad Therapy Patreon community.

Introduction: 0:00 – 9:57

Part One: 9:57 – 46:11

Part Two: 46:11 – 1:18:17

Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Bookshelf / Tell Us Your Story

Show Notes:

49. Radical Acceptance of Clients (with Dr. Nathan Castle)

Monday, April 20, 2020 • Duration 01:00:20

Therapist defensiveness is a recurring theme in stories of bad therapy. In this week’s episode, Suzanne shares her experience with a therapist whose defensiveness was expressed in gratuitous displays of power and dismissive remarks. Plus, Dr. Nathan Castle rejoins the show to explore the topics of defensiveness, radical acceptance of clients, and the importance of transparency.

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

Donate to Nacoa
Why do depressed people prefer sad music?
Spotify - Deep Focus Playlist
Dr. Nathan Castle's Website
Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Tell Us Your Story

Read moreCollapse

48. In Defense of Bad Therapy (with Angela Caldwell, LMFT)

Monday, April 13, 2020 • Duration 54:27

This week’s story from Ashley has all the markings of bad family therapy. But did the interventions work? Ashley shares her experience as a teenager in crisis being threatened with inpatient care and alarms on her door, and Angela Caldwell makes us question everything we know about what constitutes good therapy. Is it OK to trick clients if it leads to successful outcomes?

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

Donate to The Opal Center
Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Tell Us Your Story

Read moreCollapse

47. VBT in History (1980s): Satanic Panic and Recovered Memory Therapy

Monday, April 6, 2020 • Duration 01:00:44

A satanic panic in the early 1980s culminated in the McMartin Preschool abuse trial, the then-longest and most expensive criminal trial in American history. The trial centered around 359 allegations of ritualistic satanic child abuse and concluded with zero convictions and a new understanding of the unreliability of recovered memories. The satanic panic has subsided, but its indirect effects are still present today in how therapists work with childhood trauma.

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

46. Curious Interventions

Monday, March 30, 2020 • Duration 44:10

This week’s story from Alison is a throwback to high school and all of Carrie and Ben’s greatest fears around teenage embarrassment. We discuss interventions that are better left unsaid (telling an underage client to share romantic feelings with her softball coach) and others that have questionable validity (House-Tree-Person and Rorschach tests). Plus, what does modern science have to say about Instagram Face?

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Note: This episode was recorded in early March.

Show Notes:

Read moreCollapse

45. VBT in Focus: Dr. Scott Miller and Dr. Daryl Chow on Deliberate Practice

Monday, March 23, 2020 • Duration 56:13

Scott Miller and Daryl Chow return to the podcast to discuss their new book, Better Results: Using Deliberate Practice to Improve Therapeutic Effectiveness. Topics include the importance of targeting individual strengths and deficits in a system of learning, how to get out of the performance zone, the significance of a coach, and ideas for changing the ways in which psychotherapy is taught.

VBT in Focus is a series of sporadic episodes in which Carrie and Ben have the privilege of chatting with their favorite thinkers in the field of psychotherapy. Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

Read moreCollapse

44. Supporting Clients with Disabilities (with Joy Wolf, LCSW)

Monday, March 16, 2020 • Duration 41:12

What should therapists know about working with individuals with disabilities? In this week’s episode, Joy Wolf joins us to share her personal story about two therapists who responded to her disability in very different yet similarly problematic ways. We also discuss the impact of privilege, therapist uncertainty, and the limitations in how we are trained to work with clients with disabilities.

Thank you for listening. Support the show by becoming a monthly subscriber on Patreon to receive access to bonus episodes or by making a one-time contribution via PayPal.

Show Notes:

Donate to Shriners Hospitals
Joy Wolf, LCSW | Psychology Today
Frontiers of Psychotherapist Development Podcast
Very Bad Therapy: Website / Facebook / Tell Us Your Story

Read moreCollapse

How Should Therapists Respond to Coronavirus?

Friday, March 13, 2020 • Duration 50:25

An urgent conversation about the role of therapists in doing the most public good during the coronavirus outbreak. Pat Wiita, MD and Farah Zerehi, MS explore the science, needed actions, and social justice implications of the pandemic, and Ben Caldwell, PsyD discusses what you need to know about shifting your practice to telehealth services. Please share this episode anywhere you feel it might make an impact.

If you have expertise or information related to the pandemic that you feel is important to share with the psychotherapy community, email us at vbtpodcast@gmail.com.

Note: A previous version of this episode contained information about Zoom being HIPAA compliant. This is only true for the Zoom for Healthcare option ($200/month), not the free and low-tier paid options.

Read moreCollapse

Very Bad Therapy – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Very Bad Therapy – Details, episodes & analysis

Podcast details

Recent rankings

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Shared links between episodes and podcasts

Other99+

Facebook12

Patreon2

RSS feed quality and score

Publication history

Latest published episodes

Similar podcasts and content

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Apple Podcasts

Spotify

Related Shows Based on Content Similarities

Other99+

Facebook12

Patreon2