A brand is all of the associations, emotions, expectations and mental models that exist in the hearts and minds of individuals.

How’s the talk therapy brand doing these days? Not so good. Most people don’t even know what psychoanalytic psychotherapy is, and when they do, their connotations tend to be negative. Perceived as antiquated, never-ending, too expensive and only for the privileged, psychoanalytic therapy finds itself squeezed out of the public conversation of how to help those who are suffering.

Yet we know, in a profound way, that this isn’t true.

If we want therapies of depth, insight, and relationship to remain valued by and available to generations to come, we need to fix our branding problem.

To take on this challenge, PsiAN has put together a team of marketing and branding experts, with decades of experience in marketing, research and advertising. This team has been working hard, using the tools and strategies that corporate America employs every day, but this time in the service of talk therapy. You can help support this project by learning more and donating here .

Indeed, the problems are familiar and well documented. Approximately one in five adults in the U.S. experience a mental health illness each year, and untreated mental illness is costly, whether measured by contributions to medical illness and increased surgical/medical services, lost earnings and decreased work productivity, repeated rounds of mental health treatments following relapses from short-term treatments, or rising suicide rates. Unfortunately, the majority of those who suffer are not getting the help they need. According to NAMI, nearly 60% of adults and 50% of children in need did not receive mental health services in the past year, and the statistics only get worse for non-white and LGBTQIA individuals.

There are many barriers and obstacles to getting help, including powerful internal resistances. However, when someone does want to obtain mental health treatment, they may still encounter significant challenges. They will likely ask family and friends, and seek out services that are convenient to home or office. They will also likely search the internet, and search their mind for information and associations, which will be based on their own experiences as well as their interactions with the media and popular culture.

Few of these searches will be likely to lead individuals to seek out psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Why is that? Awareness and understanding of different forms of therapy are typically low among the general public, therefore making the field of therapy susceptible to manipulation by those with vested interests in promoting specific therapy brands. Recent articles posted by national news outlet NBC, and surprisingly re-posted by the American Psychological Association, uncritically presents CBT as the “gold standard” treatment for an enormous range of emotional symptoms. Unfortunately, articles such as these are misleading for the public, which has little access to the evidence for the effectiveness of various treatments, and even less access to the skills to evaluate it. A layperson is probably not the typical reader of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and thus would not have read JAMA’s article asking “ Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Gold Standard for Psychotherapy? ” and learned that the answer was clearly “No.”

Individuals seeking help might also turn to their insurance companies – in ways both direct and indirect. They might access the insurance company’s website to research which providers are in-network with their policy. In ways that are more indirect, yet potentially more impactful, individuals are exposed to the advertisements of insurance companies and affected by the results of their lobbying efforts. For-profit insurance companies are beholden to quarterly financial results, and are heavily incented to prefer those services that minimize cost – namely, short-term, time-limited psychotherapy. The recent class-action victory in a lengthy lawsuit filed against United Behavioral Health (Wit v UBH) reveals how financial incentives infected UBH’s treatment guidelines. UBH systematically developed and applied internal criteria that helped UBH make more money by denying treatment coverage. The Judge found that UBH’s criteria fell short of meeting generally accepted standards of care. It is distressing to see that United is leading the pack in terms of being the top healthcare contributor to the $1.2 MM the industry has already contributed to the 2020 election cycle ( Big Health Contributions to 2020 ).

In addition, individuals who are suffering will likely have seen some of the many direct-to-consumer ads for psychiatric medications. The psychiatric category is the most lucrative for the pharmaceutical industry, with antipsychotics, valued at $15 Billion, being the largest revenue producer among all drug classes. Antidepressants follow right behind, at an estimated $12 Billion, and these are the most frequently prescribed class of drugs. Big Pharma is intent on preserving its top sellers, and its marketing efforts are a top priority; Big Pharma spends $19 in marketing for every $1 it spends on R&D ( Pharma Marketing Spending ). And the industry complements the $30 Billion it spends each year in marketing with $240 Million spent in lobbying ( Pharma expenditures ).

And these trends are unlikely to stop any time soon. The money and influence at stake are simply too great. Big Pharma and Big Insurance do not want consumers to know that their treatments are highly over-rated. They do not want consumers to know that medication efficacy is over-stated by approximately one-third ( Do Antidepressants Work? ), and that relapse rates of short-term therapy are unacceptably high, with the majority of patients receiving “evidence-based” treatment-seeking additional treatment within 6-12 months for the same condition (Westen et al 2004).

Thus, almost every resource and message available to the public is steering them towards short-term, quick-fix solutions, whether in the form of a medication or a time-limited, manualized treatment. Risks and costs are under-stated, while efficacies are over-stated. These dynamics are reinforced by a cultural zeitgeist that values “quick-fixes” over reflection and long-term solutions.

Thus, therapies of depth, insight and relationship find themselves squeezed out of the public conversation around how to help those who are suffering. There have been intentional efforts to discredit psychoanalytic treatment in multiple realms, for example by suggesting there is no “evidence” supporting it . To be sure, some of the problems have been generated by the psychoanalytic community itself, as fragmented as it is and disconnected from the mainstream population as it can be.

What does all of this add up to? Therapies of depth, insight and relationship have a branding problem. We can see clearly that psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been out-positioned and effectively negatively branded by others. Now is the time to take back control of our narrative, and share with the public the value and benefits of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Now is the time to re-brand psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

PsiAN’s Re-Branding project is uniquely developed, staffed and positioned to take on this challenge, with the following desired outcomes:

• Increased awareness of therapies of depth, insight and relationship among multiple audiences
• Improved and enhanced understanding of what psychoanalytic and other therapies are, dispelling biases, myths, and misconceptions
• Improvement in the perceived value of these therapies for long-term mental health (value and effectiveness, from treatment and cost perspectives)
• Increased motivation for more people to choose or recommend these therapies as a form of treatment and help for problems in living

What sets our project apart? Its focus on the public. Its use of professional market research. Its application of proven tools and strategies that America’s best marketers use. The volunteer team of experts that PsiAN has brought together from the fields of branding, marketing, advertising, and therapy, as well as psychotherapy. Never before has there been a study of this kind on the public’s perceptions of psychotherapy.

As experienced marketers and market researchers, we know we need to understand the world of our patients and potential patients – their hopes, fears, values, needs (whether conscious and tangible, or unconscious and intangible). We need also to understand and map out how they conceive of their options for mental healthcare and their underlying decision-making factors. Importantly, we need to learn how they perceive our brand, what they find most meaningful and valuable, and how we can credibly communicate these benefits to them. While much is already known about prevailing attitudes and misperceptions about psychodynamic psychotherapy, little is known about the key messages and emotions that will change hearts and minds and increase the likelihood of seeking out or recommending therapies of depth, insight and relationship.

If we are able to execute this project, and then enlist the help of creative development resources to create advertising and messaging campaigns, the potential impact of this project is tremendous. Individuals across the country will have a greater awareness and understanding of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and a greater propensity to choose or recommend this form of therapy. The image and perceived value of psychoanalytic therapy will be more clearly and accurately defined, and greatly improved in the hearts and minds of the general public. People who are suffering and need help will have a better understanding of their options, and a better chance at resolving the issues causing them pain, both now and for the rest of their lives.

Of course, we cannot do this alone. Your support means everything, and together we can change everything.

Linda L. Michaels, PsyD MBA

Co-Chair, Psychotherapy Action Network

A brand is all of the associations, emotions, expectations and mental models that exist in the hearts and minds of individuals.

How’s the talk therapy brand doing these days? Not so good. Most people don’t even know what psychoanalytic psychotherapy is, and when they do, their connotations tend to be negative. Perceived as antiquated, never-ending, too expensive and only for the privileged, psychoanalytic therapy finds itself squeezed out of the public conversation of how to help those who are suffering.

Yet we know, in a profound way, that this isn’t true.

If we want therapies of depth, insight, and relationship to remain valued by and available to generations to come, we need to fix our branding problem.

To take on this challenge, PsiAN has put together a team of marketing and branding experts, with decades of experience in marketing, research and advertising. This team has been working hard, using the tools and strategies that corporate America employs every day, but this time in the service of talk therapy. You can help support this project by learning more and donating here .

Indeed, the problems are familiar and well documented. Approximately one in five adults in the U.S. experience a mental health illness each year, and untreated mental illness is costly, whether measured by contributions to medical illness and increased surgical/medical services, lost earnings and decreased work productivity, repeated rounds of mental health treatments following relapses from short-term treatments, or rising suicide rates. Unfortunately, the majority of those who suffer are not getting the help they need. According to NAMI, nearly 60% of adults and 50% of children in need did not receive mental health services in the past year, and the statistics only get worse for non-white and LGBTQIA individuals.

There are many barriers and obstacles to getting help, including powerful internal resistances. However, when someone does want to obtain mental health treatment, they may still encounter significant challenges. They will likely ask family and friends, and seek out services that are convenient to home or office. They will also likely search the internet, and search their mind for information and associations, which will be based on their own experiences as well as their interactions with the media and popular culture.

Few of these searches will be likely to lead individuals to seek out psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Why is that? Awareness and understanding of different forms of therapy are typically low among the general public, therefore making the field of therapy susceptible to manipulation by those with vested interests in promoting specific therapy brands. Recent articles posted by national news outlet NBC, and surprisingly re-posted by the American Psychological Association, uncritically presents CBT as the “gold standard” treatment for an enormous range of emotional symptoms. Unfortunately, articles such as these are misleading for the public, which has little access to the evidence for the effectiveness of various treatments, and even less access to the skills to evaluate it. A layperson is probably not the typical reader of JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and thus would not have read JAMA’s article asking “ Is Cognitive Behavioral Therapy the Gold Standard for Psychotherapy? ” and learned that the answer was clearly “No.”

Individuals seeking help might also turn to their insurance companies – in ways both direct and indirect. They might access the insurance company’s website to research which providers are in-network with their policy. In ways that are more indirect, yet potentially more impactful, individuals are exposed to the advertisements of insurance companies and affected by the results of their lobbying efforts. For-profit insurance companies are beholden to quarterly financial results, and are heavily incented to prefer those services that minimize cost – namely, short-term, time-limited psychotherapy. The recent class-action victory in a lengthy lawsuit filed against United Behavioral Health (Wit v UBH) reveals how financial incentives infected UBH’s treatment guidelines. UBH systematically developed and applied internal criteria that helped UBH make more money by denying treatment coverage. The Judge found that UBH’s criteria fell short of meeting generally accepted standards of care. It is distressing to see that United is leading the pack in terms of being the top healthcare contributor to the $1.2 MM the industry has already contributed to the 2020 election cycle ( Big Health Contributions to 2020 ).

In addition, individuals who are suffering will likely have seen some of the many direct-to-consumer ads for psychiatric medications. The psychiatric category is the most lucrative for the pharmaceutical industry, with antipsychotics, valued at $15 Billion, being the largest revenue producer among all drug classes. Antidepressants follow right behind, at an estimated $12 Billion, and these are the most frequently prescribed class of drugs. Big Pharma is intent on preserving its top sellers, and its marketing efforts are a top priority; Big Pharma spends $19 in marketing for every $1 it spends on R&D ( Pharma Marketing Spending ). And the industry complements the $30 Billion it spends each year in marketing with $240 Million spent in lobbying ( Pharma expenditures ).

And these trends are unlikely to stop any time soon. The money and influence at stake are simply too great. Big Pharma and Big Insurance do not want consumers to know that their treatments are highly over-rated. They do not want consumers to know that medication efficacy is over-stated by approximately one-third ( Do Antidepressants Work? ), and that relapse rates of short-term therapy are unacceptably high, with the majority of patients receiving “evidence-based” treatment-seeking additional treatment within 6-12 months for the same condition (Westen et al 2004).

Thus, almost every resource and message available to the public is steering them towards short-term, quick-fix solutions, whether in the form of a medication or a time-limited, manualized treatment. Risks and costs are under-stated, while efficacies are over-stated. These dynamics are reinforced by a cultural zeitgeist that values “quick-fixes” over reflection and long-term solutions.

Thus, therapies of depth, insight and relationship find themselves squeezed out of the public conversation around how to help those who are suffering. There have been intentional efforts to discredit psychoanalytic treatment in multiple realms, for example by suggesting there is no “evidence” supporting it . To be sure, some of the problems have been generated by the psychoanalytic community itself, as fragmented as it is and disconnected from the mainstream population as it can be.

What does all of this add up to? Therapies of depth, insight and relationship have a branding problem. We can see clearly that psychoanalytic psychotherapy has been out-positioned and effectively negatively branded by others. Now is the time to take back control of our narrative, and share with the public the value and benefits of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. Now is the time to re-brand psychoanalytic psychotherapy.

PsiAN’s Re-Branding project is uniquely developed, staffed and positioned to take on this challenge, with the following desired outcomes:

• Increased awareness of therapies of depth, insight and relationship among multiple audiences
• Improved and enhanced understanding of what psychoanalytic and other therapies are, dispelling biases, myths, and misconceptions
• Improvement in the perceived value of these therapies for long-term mental health (value and effectiveness, from treatment and cost perspectives)
• Increased motivation for more people to choose or recommend these therapies as a form of treatment and help for problems in living

What sets our project apart? Its focus on the public. Its use of professional market research. Its application of proven tools and strategies that America’s best marketers use. The volunteer team of experts that PsiAN has brought together from the fields of branding, marketing, advertising, and therapy, as well as psychotherapy. Never before has there been a study of this kind on the public’s perceptions of psychotherapy.

As experienced marketers and market researchers, we know we need to understand the world of our patients and potential patients – their hopes, fears, values, needs (whether conscious and tangible, or unconscious and intangible). We need also to understand and map out how they conceive of their options for mental healthcare and their underlying decision-making factors. Importantly, we need to learn how they perceive our brand, what they find most meaningful and valuable, and how we can credibly communicate these benefits to them. While much is already known about prevailing attitudes and misperceptions about psychodynamic psychotherapy, little is known about the key messages and emotions that will change hearts and minds and increase the likelihood of seeking out or recommending therapies of depth, insight and relationship.

If we are able to execute this project, and then enlist the help of creative development resources to create advertising and messaging campaigns, the potential impact of this project is tremendous. Individuals across the country will have a greater awareness and understanding of psychoanalytic psychotherapy, and a greater propensity to choose or recommend this form of therapy. The image and perceived value of psychoanalytic therapy will be more clearly and accurately defined, and greatly improved in the hearts and minds of the general public. People who are suffering and need help will have a better understanding of their options, and a better chance at resolving the issues causing them pain, both now and for the rest of their lives.

Of course, we cannot do this alone. Your support means everything, and together we can change everything.

Linda L. Michaels, PsyD MBA

Co-Chair, Psychotherapy Action Network