The Speakmans? I don't get what they do.

[donners312]

Fears and phobias are irrational and they just seem to appeal to your logical mind to combat them.

I don't get what methodology they use and I'm sure people just go along and agree with them to get away.

What they do doesn't make sense to me what am I missing?

Are they that blonde couple that smile a lot and have a crazy glint in their eye?

Bloody hell, You don't really understand something so ridicule it?

Agreed. Whatever they are doing clearly works, so why knock it? In fact OP, my experience of CBT wasn't too different from what they do; a lot of it is about knocking down your perception of how things are and helping you explore and accept a different reality.

The claustrophobic woman on This Morning today actually said something like "I've been suffering for X amount of years and have tried everything so my last resort is therapy". Why the hell wasn't that her first resort?? She might have been cured 20 years ago! I wonder if the people who say "the Speakmans could never cure me" have actually tried the right type of therapy with an excellent therapist.

I'm interested in their studies too but who really cares if what they do works?

Gotta - Do you know what modality they use? Thats what I am asking what do they do? Because they seem to use logic?

No idea.
Logic seems a good place to start. How we think about things affects how we feel. I thought it was well known that you can retrain yourself to think differently.
Change your thoughts and your feelings change.

Quite a funny article here

No i get that, but i just think if our fears were logical we (largely) wouldn't have them.

So when they say like pp said "it's not the planes fault...." etc that logic is something we automatically apply. Eg you would tell yourself I know its silly to be afraid of flying but..

And I get Hypnosis and I get CBT, and although CBT is helpful it takes time to retrain your thought processes. And thats what I don't get about the speakmans.

Agree if it works then good but they seem to be giving people a 'good' talking to then bam they are cured???

I always thought they were married?? I'm sure I watched a programme where they had their son Hunter there??

It's a version of CBT, which could equally be dismissed as 'just being logical'.

Not siding with 'team Speakman' - I find them a bit creepy personally, but what they do seems to have substance and genuine results in many cases.

I agree too - you never get to see the real substance of what they do with people; and I think that's to protect the value of their methods rather than the confidentiality of their clients.

Brother and sister! They ARE like those singing siblings from one of Simon Cowell's talent shows. Hmm!

Quite a funny article here

Nik looks like a PE teacher who won Euromillions and moved to LA

Ok brother and sister makes more sense 😁 always creeped me out considering I thought they were married yet looked so alike

That article is funny. I do actually think they won the Euro millions (hence the big house) and then they decided to spend their days "helping' people.

No they are married!! The just look like brother and sister.

Oh Jesus, so they are married?

Maybe they can cure me of my creeped-outness of them looking so alike?

They're a pair of charlatans.

They're using a bastardised version of flooding.

Bear in mind they attract clients who are motivated to 'get better' as they know it's going to be on TV, who may from the pressure of everything going on around them be able to push themselves to tolerate something that they couldn't in day to day life, the client is selected from assumedly many applicants for suitability, etc.

Put them in a primary care mental health clinic in a deprived area treating anxiety disorders with actual evidence based talking therapy and we'll see how effective they are.

They're widely regarded as a joke amongst actual registered therapists.

They must charge ££££££££s, whatever they do seems to really work! Baffled. I think they only show people they've pre-selected as 'fixable', though, surely. I'd give them a run for their money I know that much.

The Speakmans have diplomas in an unspecified subject from Newcastle University,[3] but are not accredited psychotherapists.

From their wiki.

They are not accredited psychotherapists. They're entertainers.

ah yes that is what i thought/wondered.

The just probably have PR machines that have got them on telly. i seriously doubt they have their millions from their therapy work.

Maybe they can cure me of my creeped-outness of them looking so alike?

Sparkly, please write in to This Morning, I beg you.

Ahaha @Bugjune you have actually tempted me 😂😂 can you imagine? I guess it's worth a shot. Does anyone know the details of who I write in to?

Do it!!! So funny!!!

I had schema mentioned in my last lot of therapy, isnt that like having all these negative beliefs about the world and yourself because of a negative experience, which forms bad schema or something? I thought calling it schema was bollocks at the time. But the therapist was a lovely lady and did help alittle bit.

Ironically I have an irrational phobia of them

Seriously can't watch them

yes i think a schema is a set of beliefs.

Pretty much shouldnthavesaid.

As you can see from their slots on tv, the speakmans don't exactly take the time to discover and work on a patient's core beliefs and help them to understand and modify their schema.

Yeah, they just use flooding techniques similar to Cesar Milan.

Crunchymum fancy writing to this morning with me? If they see they have a couple who have the same fear, we'd more than likely be asked on

When DS has gone to his dad's later an I have a couple glasses of red wine,I'll drop TM an email