Jonathan Shedler
Clinical psychologist and clinical professor of psychiatry at UCSF. His 2010 meta-analysis established psychodynamic therapy as an evidence-based treatment; he has argued ever since that "evidence-based therapy" is used as a marketing term.
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What they believe
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Victim entitlement is the unconscious belief that suffering and victimhood earn a person special compensation.
It is the unconscious conviction that one is entitled to special compensation in proportion to suffering and victimhood.
jonathanshedler.substack.comSaid 21 Sept 2026This on korrents
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Psychological health can be measured by how closely a person's traits approximate an idealized profile of healthy functioning.
But we can measure psychological health by how closely a person approximates this hypothetical ideal.
jonathanshedler.substack.comSaid 14 Sept 2026This on korrents
The bold line is korrents’ wording; the quote is theirs. These 2: what they wrote before what they said aloud, one per source, newest first.
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19 October
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28 September
21 September
From one piece Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Life 3 beliefs · jonathanshedler.substack.com
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korrents.com
Believing suffering is a claim ticket for compensation becomes a powerful resistance to psychological change.Their words
The fantasy that suffering is a claim ticket becomes a powerful resistance to psychological change.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Lifejonathanshedler.substack.com
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Their words
This expectation is a vestige of early childhood and the small child's experience of their parents as omnipotent-able to provide whatever is needed to make everything all better.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Lifejonathanshedler.substack.com
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korrents.com
Victim entitlement is the unconscious belief that suffering and victimhood earn a person special compensation.Their words
It is the unconscious conviction that one is entitled to special compensation in proportion to suffering and victimhood.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Lifejonathanshedler.substack.com
14 September
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Their words
But we can measure psychological health by how closely a person approximates this hypothetical ideal.
23 Markers of Psychological Healthjonathanshedler.substack.com
7 September
31 August
From one piece When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problem 2 beliefs · jonathanshedler.substack.com
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Their words
Psychotherapy cannot help if the participants cannot work together.
When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problemjonathanshedler.substack.com
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Their words
It is true that a good therapeutic alliance predicts good outcome. But anyone can develop an alliance with someone who can already form good relationships. Measures of the therapeutic alliance may simply be a proxy for the patient's preexisting capacity for healthy relationships.
When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problemjonathanshedler.substack.com
24 August
17 August
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27 July
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Their words
When patients don't get the help they need, they don't come away thinking, I didn't get good treatment. They come away thinking, I am too broken to be helped. They leave more hopeless and demoralized than when they came. That is harm.
When Compromised Care Becomes "Best Practice"jonathanshedler.substack.com
20 July
13 July
Nothing matches.
Beliefs
Korrents What they believe 12 beliefs — each backed by an exact quote.
Each is a — compiled by korrents.com, not by them: the one-line wordings are korrents', the quotes are theirs.
Recent
Victim entitlement is the unconscious belief that suffering and victimhood earn a person special compensation.
It is the unconscious conviction that one is entitled to special compensation in proportion to suffering and victimhood.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Life Said 21 Sept 2026
The expectation that another person can make everything better originates in early childhood experiences of parents as all-powerful.
This expectation is a vestige of early childhood and the small child's experience of their parents as omnipotent-able to provide whatever is needed to make everything all better.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Life Said 21 Sept 2026
Believing suffering is a claim ticket for compensation becomes a powerful resistance to psychological change.
The fantasy that suffering is a claim ticket becomes a powerful resistance to psychological change.
Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Life Said 21 Sept 2026
Show 9 more
Psychological health can be measured by how closely a person's traits approximate an idealized profile of healthy functioning.
But we can measure psychological health by how closely a person approximates this hypothetical ideal.
23 Markers of Psychological Health Said 14 Sept 2026
Research showing that a good therapeutic alliance predicts good outcomes may just be measuring a patient's pre-existing capacity for healthy relationships, not the therapist's effect.
It is true that a good therapeutic alliance predicts good outcome. But anyone can develop an alliance with someone who can already form good relationships. Measures of the therapeutic alliance may simply be a proxy for the patient's preexisting capacity for healthy relationships.
When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problem Said 31 Aug 2026
Psychotherapy cannot help if the participants cannot work together.
Psychotherapy cannot help if the participants cannot work together.
When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problem Said 31 Aug 2026
When institutions can only offer compromised care they end up calling it best practice, and the patients who do not get better conclude that they themselves are beyond help.
When patients don't get the help they need, they don't come away thinking, I didn't get good treatment. They come away thinking, I am too broken to be helped. They leave more hopeless and demoralized than when they came. That is harm.
When Compromised Care Becomes "Best Practice" Said 27 Jul 2026
Telling a patient "your feelings are valid" is not therapy: it is the mirror image of "get a grip", and it makes the therapist a judge of feelings instead of a companion in them.
The phrase "your feelings are valid" does not invite curiosity or deeper self-understanding, which is the point of psychotherapy. It is the mirror image of "stop whining and get a grip." One sounds warm and one sounds harsh, but neither deepens self-awareness.
Skilled Therapists Don't Say "Your Feelings Are Valid" Said 22 Jun 2026
The APA's trauma treatment guidelines should be ignored, because they rest only on trials of therapies too brief to have worked.
The American Psychological Association (APA) just issued guidelines for treating trauma. Patients and therapists would be wise to ignore them.
Selling Bad Therapy to Trauma Victims Said 19 Nov 2017
Psychotherapy follows a dose-response curve: it takes more than 20 sessions before half of patients meaningfully improve, and more than 40 before three quarters do.
It takes more than 20 sessions, or about six months of weekly therapy, before 50 percent of patients show meaningful improvement. It takes more than 40 sessions for 75 percent of patients to show meaningful improvement.
Selling Bad Therapy to Trauma Victims Said 19 Nov 2017
"Evidence-based therapy" is a branding term rather than a scientific one, and in practice it is a code word for "not psychodynamic".
The term "evidence-based therapy" is also, de facto, a code word for "not psychodynamic."
Evidence-Based Therapy: Science or Marketing? Said 2 Oct 2013
No research ever showed manualized CBT to be more effective than psychodynamic therapy; it was only studied more often.
No research ever suggested that manualized CBT was more effective than psychodynamic therapy. It was just more often researched. There is a world of difference between saying a treatment is less often researched and saying it has been scientifically discredited.
Evidence-Based Therapy: Science or Marketing? Said 2 Oct 2013
What is a korrent?
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Recommends rcmnd
rcmnd What they recommend 3 things — each backed by an exact quote.
Compiled by rcmnd.app, not by them: the quotes are theirs, and each links to the post it was copied from.
Recent
Recommends Where is the evidence for “evidence-based” therapy?
Where is the evidence for “evidence-based” therapy? [pdf] Few patients who get “evidence-based therapy” get well
jonathanshedler.com 20 Sept 2013
their own
What others say about Where is the evidence for “evidence-based” therapy? →
Recommends The illusion of mental health
The illusion of mental health [pdf] Scientific evidence that we do not know our hearts and minds and must look past the surface—a classic in the field
jonathanshedler.com 20 Sept 2013
their own
Recommends The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy
The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy [pdf] Hailed as a contemporary classic and studied in training programs around the world—the paper that established psychodynamic therapy as an evidence-based treatment
jonathanshedler.com 20 Sept 2013
their own
What others say about The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy →
Where they publish
Site jonathanshedler.com The front door: his practice, and PDFs of his published papers.
His own site — the practice, the consultation work, and free PDFs of the papers the arguments rest on, including the 2010 efficacy meta-analysis and the 2018 "Where is the evidence for evidence-based therapy?".
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
Blog Psychologically Minded His Psychology Today blog, 2013-2025. Where the evidence-based-therapy argument was first made in public.
Posts from 2013 to 2025, each carrying his byline: the trauma-guidelines piece, "Evidence-Based Therapy: Science or Marketing?", and the dose-response numbers that recur in everything he has written since.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026.
Newsletter Jonathan Shedler Where the current writing is: an essay most Mondays on what psychotherapy is and is not.
Weekly essays on how skilled therapists actually work — what they listen for, why "your feelings are valid" is not therapy, and what happens when institutions call compromised care best practice.
Open jonathanshedler.substack.com
Recent
- What Every Therapist Needs to Find Out in the First Session 19 Oct 2026 Three questions at the heart of all effective psychotherapy.
- “Do You Worry About Your Patients Seeing You on Social Media?” 12 Oct 2026 Patients learn all kinds of things about their therapists. What happens next is what matters.
- Three Things I Wish Someone Told Me When I Was a New Therapist 5 Oct 2026 Clinical wisdom begins with knowing what not to do.
Show 17 more
- 16 Psychoanalytic Concepts for Our Time 28 Sept 2026 How individual defenses can become group defenses.
- Masochism: When Suffering Becomes a Way of Life 21 Sept 2026 Some people see their suffering as a golden claim ticket.
- 23 Markers of Psychological Health 14 Sept 2026 Experts agree. We know what psychological health looks like.
- The 7 Principles of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy 7 Sept 2026 A video introduction to in-depth psychotherapy.
- When the Therapy Relationship Is the Problem 31 Aug 2026 The therapy relationship reveals what patients cannot tell us.
- Why “Just Talking” Helps 24 Aug 2026 The power of giving sorrow words.
- What Skilled Psychotherapists Sound Like 17 Aug 2026 The language of skilled psychotherapy is the language of curiosity.
- Real Psychotherapists Don’t Act Like Therapists on the Internet 10 Aug 2026 Why psychotherapy happens in a professional relationship, not on social media.
- Why We Act Like Some of Our Thoughts Aren’t Ours 3 Aug 2026 The mind is divided. This is the core insight of psychoanalysis.
- When Compromised Care Becomes “Best Practice” 27 Jul 2026 How institutional pressures turn compromised care into the standard of care.
- How Skilled Psychotherapists Really Listen 20 Jul 2026 Why psychotherapy is not ordinary conversation.
- This Is Talk Therapy: What Psychotherapy Is and How It Works 13 Jul 2026 What every therapist and patient should know.
- When Psychotherapy Works, Then What? 6 Jul 2026 Psychotherapy cannot cure the human condition. It can free us to meet it.
- Psychological Illiteracy Begins in Psychology 101 29 Jun 2026 Students think they are learning psychology. Instead, they are taught caricatures.
- Skilled Therapists Don’t Say “Your Feelings Are Valid” 22 Jun 2026 Why psychotherapy cannot be practiced in clichés.
- The Patient Who Can’t Close the Door 15 Jun 2026 What online therapy reveals about personal boundaries.
- Podcast: What Makes Psychotherapy Meaningful? 8 Jun 2026 A conversation about psychiatry, psychotherapy, therapy-speak, and what gets lost when mental health treatment becomes a procedure.
Link verified 3 Sept 2026. Recent items update automatically from the channel.
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