‘Quack’ Therapies Could be Causing Serious Harm, Experts Warn

Copyright, Belters® News

Brits are being warned about the dangers of “quack” alternative therapies like ‘brainspotting’ and ‘cuddle curing’ over fears they could be causing more psychological harm than good.
The UK is said to have become a “Wild West of charlatans, confidence tricksters and outright cowboys” whose wacky treatments are putting those with serious mental health problems at risk.
Many selling these treatments are said to be charging up to £250-an-hour for unregulated “magic bullet solutions” that are untested and have no proven psychological value.
These include ‘cuddle curing’ where patients are treated for depression and PTSD with long hugs, and ‘brainspotting’, which claims to tackle trauma by finding so-called ‘brainspots’ in the eye.
Others, such as ‘rebirthing therapy’, are said to heal attachment disorders – in some cases by wrapping people in blankets and pillows to simulate the womb and encouraging them to push their way out and be “reborn”.
Most ‘Cuddle Coaches’, ‘Brainspotting Consultants’ and ‘Rebirthers’ offer a virtual service for half the price.
According to The London Centre for Applied Psychology (LCAP), a growing number of alternative therapy practitioners are offering their wares without a single day of professional training or after watching “a few YouTube videos”.
Of these, a considerable number are believed to have launched their businesses during the Covid-19 lockdown when they were able to cash in on the public’s growing anxiety.

Few are said to lack the expertise or credentials to register with respected industry bodies like the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP).
Graham Johnston and Matt Wotton, of the LCAP, fear the rise in unproven therapies could be exasperating, rather than treating, mental health struggles.
Any beneficial effect clients experience is likely to be a short-lived placebo, requiring patients to spend more time and money on tried-and-tested treatments in the future.
Johnston, a former Government home affairs advisor, and Wotton, who formerly advised government ministers on mental health issues in the criminal justice system, are now urging people to use only regulated, trained practitioners and NHS-
recommended therapies.
Their new book, ‘A Straight Talking Introduction to Therapy: What It Is, Why It Works, How To Get It’, aims to help people seeking a private therapist find a beneficial course of treatment.
Johnston said: “Compared to other areas of healthcare, therapy is lightly regulated at best.
“This means that there is a rapidly growing number of quack therapies, as well as quack therapists, on the market.
“That’s particularly awful, because we know that good quality therapy helps more than 75% of people experience better mental health”.
“There are now more than 500 types of therapy available through private therapists, with more outlandish ones such as brainspotting or rebirthing therapy having no meaningful research or testing to show they work.
“Each therapy will have its proponents who swear blind it helped, but anecdotal evidence is deeply subjective and questionable.”
A quarter of Brits experience mental health problems every year, according to UK charity the Mental Health Foundation.
With 1.6million people currently on the NHS waiting list for therapy, tens of thousands have to seek out private therapy instead.
But anyone can do a weekend counselling course – or not bother with one at all – and take paying patients.

Wacky treatments, which include “sand therapy” – playing with sand – and “Thought Field Therapy”, a kind psychological acupuncture in which therapists instruct patients to tap on parts of their bodies in a prescribed formula to correct disturbances in their ‘energy meridians’, are not always administered by unregulated practitioners.
But unlike NHS-recommended programs like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT), alternative treatments such as rebirthing, brainspotting, and cuddle curing have not been the subject of extensive scientific research.
And because membership of the BACP or other professional bodies is voluntary, anyone can set up as a ‘therapist’ without a single day’s training or any qualifications.
Matt Wotton, of the LCAP, said: “Some forms of therapy are, on paper at least, nothing more than snake oil.
“At best, they may offer some form of short-term benefit thanks to a placebo-like effect, but at worst they will make patients’ mental health worse by failing to tackle the issue at hand and even causing more harm in the process.
“There are some charlatans, confidence tricksters and outright cowboys out there, so we want the public to be aware of the dangers, and only ever hire regulated therapists offering evidence-based, NHS-recommended treatments.”