L. Sam S. Manickam

The tragedy of the psychotherapy professions: Serious clinicians do their work in private and focus on developing their clinical skills. Therapy influencers seek the public spotlight. Their skillset is self-promotion and digital marketing. They are often showmen and profiteers giving a cultural performance of “expert” for a public audience. Because real psychotherapists work in private while influencers seek the spotlight and consume the oxygen, public perceptions of "therapy" are now shaped by profiteers. The public is losing the ability to distinguish knowledge from marketing, and so are some in the therapy professions. Many therapy trainees who sincerely want to become skilled psychotherapists and strive for excellence don't know where to turn for quality training or who to trust. This is the tragedy of the psychotherapy professions. I fear things are only going to get worse.