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?

Thank you youokhun. For the work you do in far from easiest conditions.

I find them utterly ludicrous and laughable.

Some people have a lifelong phobia for 30-40 years or more, and it's cured in half an hour of the 'Speakmans' simpering over them and making them 'face their fear.' Do me a favour.

Utter, utter bollocks. Shame on ITV and 'This Morning' for broadcasting this shower of shite.

I would love to see them cure my ‘irrational’ desire to chuck the remote at the tv every time they appear.

Don’t buy them at all.

There are highly qualified professionals that aren’t able to help
patients with irrational fears and PTSD.
If

You can understand how to fix those fears, however simply then l think that is ok.

I don’t watch them. But tbh if we are going to talk about what it is possible to get on the nhs these days therapy wise, in my experience and from what I read on here, it’s woefully inadequate. I saw a newly qualified cbt counsellor at the dr surgery. I only saw her for 2 full sessions. I went back to the 3rd and stopped half way through because I felt I was mummying her.

I was then referred to mind. My first counsellor bullied me and ended up being sacked for her behaviour with a client (obvs idk anymore). The next liked the sound of her own voice too much and had difficulties with boundaries. For example she made disparaging remarks about my mother when discussing childhood experiences. In the end I went privately. Gone are the days of getting good access to the clinical psychologist.

The entertainment industry to a certain extent is filling a gap and satisfying our need for instant gratification and results.

TBH I think people like this are charlatans, they give people false hope. I would never consult someone like this because what's to say they know what they're doing?

There is a lot of 1 star reviews on QVC - they went on there selling a book and a DVD. The book is meant to be a self help book but apparently it's flimsy and full of stories about who they know and saying some of their friends wouldn't be in the place they are now if they had listened to the Speakmans! They even put pics of the 'doubters' up on the DVD to name and shame them!

One of their suggestions is to think back to when you were a teenager, put some music of the time on and dance round the kitchen. How groundbreaking!!

How people buy into these two, god alone knows.

Graphista
You say you have phobias that so far no one has been able to help with? I presume these were professional people? And yet, you are highly critical of the Speakmans who hi do have success in helping people with phobias?
You have no evidence what the Speakmans do is harmful and no evidence it doesn't work.
New methods have always come under suspicion over the last two hundred years, until they are accepted.
Professionals trained under accepted methods of treatments are unlikely to be happy with this because it's not what they have been taught.
I will keep an open mind until someone can provide evidence rather than an opinion or being critical if what they 'look like'

gottagetmoving ‘Accepted’ methods of treatment are accepted because there is a body of evidence showing their effectiveness with a large sample size and measured against other treatments over time. There isn’t any evidence that what the Speakmans do works; only the edited highlights they present. Until they put their brand of ‘schema conditioning’ therapy up for proper testing we have no evidence it works other than the occasional happy accident. It is not ok for untrained people to work with people who may be vulnerable.

There's no evidence their method DOES work. The things I've tried have been proven to work for other people. Mine are complex, long term and deep seated plus relate to a condition which isn't "just" mh but relates to neurobiology too. There is treatment but no cure for this.

I have a fairly significant phobia, and watching the Speakmans a year or so ago made me so irritable - I kept yelling HOW CAN IT BE THAT SIMPLE at the telly. I nearly posted on MN about what a shower of shite it all is, how irresponsible TM was being and how are they getting airtime.

But then I watched a longer feature on them recently, because I couldn't believe they were back on TV and would get that airtime if there wasn't something in it. I still thought it completely ridiculous - until I tried to apply the theory to my own phobia.

It is absolute nonsense in its simplicity and the rather childish way it is delivered, but after hours of CBT and about 4 other types of therapy over the last 25 years - something shifted. I am not magically cured, of course not, but suddenly I can see it in a more rational way. And that is the first step to getting past it.

So I'm still a little sceptical, but I no longer dismiss them out of hand. There IS something in it.

They aren't dealing with complex mental health problems. They deal with phobias which are irrational fears of something that is not a real threat. Phobias triggered by an overreaction to something or learned through seeing fear in someone else.
The people they see are otherwise mentally healthy.
I'm sure they check whether the person has other conditions.
Unless you actually know that they have caused damage, you are guessing.
I would be interested to know too but as yet nothing has been reported.
I doubt ITV's lawyers would try to cover anything up. The fallout would be expensive and damaging.

They are untrained charlatans. The methods they use are evidence-based when delivered by a clinician qualified to do so. They should not be allowed on the TV.

How would they know if they were dealing with someone with complex mental health issues? They have no training or experience. This makes them dangerous.

Agree either they don't know the full background of their clients or they're likely selecting those with less extreme phobias.

Again you're being dismissive of how serious and pervasive phobias can be. Phobias can be very serious and very complex (in their cause and in their effects).

Again you're being dismissive of how serious and pervasive phobias can be. Phobias can be very serious and very complex (in their cause and in their effects)

And you are being dismissive about their work with no hard evidence of any detrimental affects.
I have experience of bein 'treated' for mental health problems by qualified nhs practitioners. It mostly involved drugs and very little else. If the people I saw were qualified they were pretty crap at their jobs.
My recovery took years and was achieved by me reading lots of different books by various authors.
I would not dismiss the Speakmans until someone can show they are fake.

In my experience of unaccredited therapists in the private sector they don’t tend to turn down work. They have often not had any training in the management of risk and don’t recognise or discuss the possible complexity lurking. I’ve certainly had ‘straightforward’ clients present that are any thing but. These two are clearly commercially minded so I’m sure they’re not assessing clients and then referring on to a more suitable therapeutic approach/a psychiatrist/psychologist. Assessing difficulties is often done in a team and discussed in supervision; who is monitoring their practice and outcomes? Given that people will be self-referring how do we know they’re not being confronted with people who need formal diagnosis and careful management. This is a problem often in the private sector, obviously there are excellent well trained therapists in the private sector but there are also people on an ego trip and doing damage. Certainly with PTSD a lot of damage can be done in the wrong hands. We can’t measure what they do because they don’t share their ‘protocol’ and we don’t know if what they do works across a broad population or just with the people they select to showcase.

@Gottagetmoving Would you get medical treatment from an unqualified doctor? Why do you think the burden of proof is on others to demonstrate that they have done harm? They are unqualified and should not be practicing. There is a lot of psychological therapy available in primary care in England at least. If you had a poor experience with a therapist then hopefully you talked about it and/or complained about it. There are 1000s of people being treated who do benefit and I hope no one would be discouraged from seeking it by your damning comments. Outcomes are also based on what the client brings to the therapy.

No gotta - the onus is on them to prove they are

A doing no harm
B doing good - mid to long term, short term is false positive

Oh FFS!... They don't claim to be medical professionals. They speak to people about phobias. People claim it has made a difference to them. What they do is not illegal. Unlike hypnotists, they don't put people in any form of suggestive state.
There have been no reports of any harm.
Still,...with absolutely no idea or evidence to the contrary but your own opinions, you have declared them dangerous.
What next? Ban any self help books by anyone who doesn't have a medical qualification?

You don't really know what you're talking about.

They're ACTING like medical professionals and making unsubstantiated claims about treating medical conditions. I think that SHOULD be illegal.

They don’t make [claims] and they speak to people about phobias.

Here is a claim about treating an eating disorder instantly, it’s from their website.

“Sophie who was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 10. After diagnosis and NHS routes proving unsuccessful her parents resorted to private treatment and they spent more than £100,000 on residential care without success. 24 hours after meeting Nik and Eva, Sophie was free of her anorexia”.

It's ridiculous. They also dick around with people with PTSD.

bastardkitty I know. I’ve seen trauma made much worse by unproven therapies delivered by poorly trained/untrained/weekend course attendees, leaving people exposed and vulnerable. We ‘useless’ NHS psychotherapists and psychologists have to sort it out. I wasn’t allowed to touch trauma work until post-MSc and hundreds of hours of supervised practice which is as it should be.