Medical approaches to suffering are limited, so why critique Improving Access to Psychological Therapies from the same ideology

Abstract

Although the article by Scott rightly questions the dynamics of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies system and re-examines the recovery rates, finding quite shocking results, his recommendations are ultimately flawed. There is a strong critique of the diagnostic procedures in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services, but the answer is not to diagnose more rigorously and to adhere more strictly to a manualised approach to psychotherapy. The opposite may be required. Alternatives to the medical model of distress offer a less stigmatising and more human approach to helping people with their problems. Perhaps psychological therapists and the people they work alongside would be better served by a psychological approach rather than a psychiatric one.