Q: Our 15-year-old son has pronounced mental health issues. He deals with multiple anxieties and depression, and he is painfully shy. You seem to believe that psychological therapy is of questionable value and even sometimes counterproductive when the patient is a child or teen. If that is true, we are still left with a child who is in emotional pain and needs help. If psychology is not the way to go, what is?
A: First, allow me to clarify my position on clinical psychology, which I am licensed by the state of North Carolina to dispense. Several facts to consider:
1. No psychological therapy has demonstrated reliable efficacy. To take a recent example, research into cognitive behavior modification, the latest therapeutic “eureka,” has failed to find that it yields better results than a placebo therapy.
