Home / Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson / The Therapy Wars: Science, Self-Help, and that IFS Article

The Therapy Wars: Science, Self-Help, and that IFS Article

Being Well with Forrest Hanson and Dr. Rick Hanson

Dec 15, 2025

1h 41m

Description

Dr. Rick and Forrest explore one of the major topics in psychology today: the tension between "mainstream" and "alternative" approaches, and
how to understand evidence-based care. Using the recent IFS controversy as a backdrop, they discuss what it means for an approach to be evidence-based, the real-world dangers of inflated claims, and therapy’s complex relationship with the medical model. They get into the weeds on study design, effect sizes, insurance, why different approaches may or may not have a large body of evidence, and how to think about the research on “common factors” in therapy. Dr. Rick and Forrest offer a simple framework for making good decisions amidst all of this complexity.

Key Topics:

0:00: Introduction: the IFS article

7:27: Psychotherapy as medicine vs. personal growth practices

15:31: “Don’t know” mind versus “durrr who knows?” mind

19:50: What counts as evidence?

29:58: What does it mean for a therapy to be evidence-based?

42:38: How do we know therapy works?

53:45: Getting on your own team

59:07: Complexities with the medical model

1:10:24: How insurance and the healthcare system complicate the picture

1:18:27: Dr. Rick’s top two takeaways

1:29:05: Recap

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