Tag: wellness industry

Reading of the Week: Young in Therapy: Need But Not Great Results – the New Lancet Paper; Also, the Wellness Industry & the Rumpelstiltskin Effect

October 2, 2025 /

From the Editor

Therapy can be life changing – especially for young adults who may be at the beginning of illness. The stakes are high but what are the outcomes?

In a new Lancet Psychiatry paper, Rob Saunders (of University College London) and his co-authors attempt to answer this question. They drew on an impressive dataset – from the National Health Service, with more than 1.6 million participants – and compared outcomes (both scales and service specific scores) between young and working age adults. “In a dataset of all individuals receiving psychological therapies for common mental disorders in a national service programme, we found that young adults had poorer outcomes than working age adults.” We discuss the paper and its implications.

With a few clicks of the mouse, our patients can read what we read – including the latest journals. But they also can access a world of half-truths, misleading claims, and falsehoods. In the second selection, a new episode of Quick Takes, I speak with Jonathan Stea, a University of Calgary psychologist and a bestselling author, about his research on the wellness industry. “The beating heart of the wellness industry is pseudoscience.”

And in the third selection from BJPsych Bulletin, Alan Levinovitz (of James Madison University) and Dr. Awais Aftab (of Case Western Reserve University) argue that there is benefit in a diagnosis. In a clever paper, they coin the term Rumpelstiltskin effect (yes, after the Grimm story) – that is, “the therapeutic effect of a clinical diagnosis, independent of any other intervention.” Are they persuasive?

DG


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Reading of the Week: rTMS vs Meds for Antidepressant Non-responders – the New AJP Study; Also, Stea on the Wellness Industry

September 12, 2024 /

From the Editor

He’s had two antidepressant trials, yet he still can’t get out of bed. What’s the next step for my patient with depression? With so many antidepressant options available, the simplest answer is another med. But what could be an alternative? These questions are highly practical – consider that roughly 700 000 Canadians struggle with treatment-refractory depression. 

Iris Dalhuisen (of Radboud University) and her co-authors attempt to shed light on the issue. In a newly published American Journal of Psychiatry study, they describe a randomized comparison involving 89 people with treatment-refractory depression who received either rTMS or another antidepressant. “In a sample of patients with moderately treatment-resistant depression, rTMS was more effective in reducing depressive symptoms than a switch of antidepressant medication.” We analyze the study, the Editorial that accompanies it, and the implications for practice.

In this week’s other selection, Jonathan N. Stea (of the University of Calgary) writes about the wellness industry in an essay for The Globe and Mail. He bemoans the snake-oil salesmen and their big promises. “As a clinical psychologist, I have encountered many patients who received pseudoscientific assessments and treatments for their mental-health concerns. The tidal wave of pseudoscientific mental-health practices originates both within and outside of the mental-health professions.”

DG

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