Well, Bill, here is more than you ever wanted to know and more than I should probably put on a "public" list serve. But, I have not disclosed any names.
Kaiser runs its own weight loss clinic, called Positive Choice, in San Diego. They hire a staff of masters' level psychologists. As far as I know, no one on staff has a Ph.D. except for the director who has a Ph.D. in nursing--and I haven't seen her around in months. There is an MD on staff and nursing personnel because they do blood work for electrolytes mostly, every other week to make sure no one is going to drop dead ;) The first counselor I had, had a background in art therapy (master's level). We did lots of affirmations without any context for doing them. But we all had to say ours out loud (group of 20 of us fat folks) and then other people could comment on each others' affirmation. Boy, I really got a lot out of that exercise to help me change my life style. Not. Then we did a lot of "visualizations" where we took walks and had to "pick up" objects for which we were supposed to delve deeply into our psyche for. Like one object was an onion. Geez, after not eating food for 2 weeks (400 cal/day liquid diet only) all I wanted to do was eat the damned thing in my visualization. RAW. But it was "supposed" to signify peeling off the layers of "baggage" we all carry with us. Of course, someone else in the group got it "right". This counselor was into all sorts of junk science about laterality! Geez my field! So when I left I left her a set of reading debunking EMDR and the better supported facts regarding laterality. After she completely allowed people to talk about how valid your horoscope is--but only if you have your chart drawn up, I had to ask for a transfer. Oh yes, she really, really likes The Secret. OK: next counselor: his background is with the old Schick Centers, anyone remember those? They worked on behavioral principles of aversive conditioning as I recall from my younger days. He's the one who bemoans the fact that NLP is no longer as popular as it once was. He's actually, overall, much better than the previous person, but still, the "Swoosh" exercise was just too much. (You envision a positive experience from your past to deal with food temptations.) It's really, in my mind, just a distraction technique. What I guess I can't understand is why we just can't call it that. Now he did affirmations, but didn't call them that and provided a context, so I might give him one more chance before I insist on another counselor with less nonsense. I'm just not sure there is one. I think all these things can work but I want a context for them and I don't want to be told that there is some magic bullet being offered to me when I do distractions work. I can hardly wait for next week. An exploration of my Inner Child (Bradshaw's book is recommended reading for next week)! The reason I think this is the right program in general for me is the rapid jump start to a new life style. I just know that I am ready for it and now is my time. I just wish it didn't have to come with all the froo-froo. So, who pays for it? The clients do. On any monday to Thursday there are probably 4-8 groups on-going with 15-20 people in each group. I think Kaiser supports the facility and everything else is paid for with a hefty-copayment, and I do mean hefty--it's $45 per week for the wonderful counseling sessions and $65 per week for the 5 packets per day of yummy "shakes". Of course the $45 is tax deductible :) Also the lab tests are free if you have Kaiser coverage and for most people that's a covered benefit. There are folks who are not from inside the plan who do the program. It is very popular. They do have longitudinal data and their 3-year success rate is over 50%, which is very good for weight loss programs. As a whole Kaiser is pretty good about doing outcomes research in general. Also, the percentage is MUCH higher for people who do the maintenance part of the program (and much lower for those who don't). So, all in all it can be a successful behavioral change program. And maybe I'm just cranky from the "fast". Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. Professor of Psychology University of San Diego 5998 Alcala Park San Diego, CA 92110 619-260-4006 [EMAIL PROTECTED] ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 18:54:00 -0400 >From: "William Scott" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: [tips] MindMentor, the first robot psychologist >To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" <tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> > >Annette, > >I can't believe that someone is using EMDR for weight loss. It hasn't >been shown to be effective for *anything*. NLP is not far behind in the >bogus practice field. I'd like to know the criteria by which Kaiser >decided to pay for this. Evidence based practice has a long way to go. > >Bill Scott > > >>>> <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 03/12/08 4:41 PM >>> >AAAARRRRGGGHHH! > >So, I'm doing this radical weight loss program through my HMO, Kaiser >(yes, I've researched it, as well as the options and think it's the >right thing for me) and I have to go to weekly 2 hour group counseling >sessions in addition to starving myself (not literally). > >So far I've asked for two changes of counselors. The first one was big >on EMDR and this one, I find out in last night's session is a big fan of >NLP. > >Heaven help us because the psychology profession seems to be sorely >lacking in critical thinking skills. > >Annette > > >Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph.D. >Professor of Psychology >University of San Diego >5998 Alcala Park >San Diego, CA 92110 >619-260-4006 >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >---- Original message ---- >>Date: Wed, 12 Mar 2008 12:47:12 -0700 >>From: Don Allen <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >>Subject: Re: [tips] MindMentor, the first robot psychologist >>To: "Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS)" ><tips@acsun.frostburg.edu> >> >> No, the best part is that it's based on >> Neuro-Liguistic-Programming. :-) >> >> Rick Stevens wrote: >> >> http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=860&tag=nl.e539 >> >> In 2006, Hollander and Wijnberg did a test-run >> with 1600 clients from all over the world. Results >> showed that MindMentor was able to solve the >> problems for 47% in just one session, a score that >> any real life psychologist would be proud of." >> >> (The best part is) >> It will cost ???4.95 for one hour session (or >> about US$7.65 as of today). >> >> -- >> __ Dr. Rick Stevens >> __ Psychology Department >> __ University of Louisiana @ Monroe >> __ [EMAIL PROTECTED] >> >> >> --- >> To make changes to your subscription contact: >> >> Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) >> >> >> -- >> Don Allen >> Department of Psychology >> Langara College >> Vancouver, B.C., Canada >> V5Y 2Z6 >> >> 604-323-5871 >> >> --- >> To make changes to your subscription contact: >> >> Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > >--- >To make changes to your subscription contact: > >Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) --- To make changes to your subscription contact: Bill Southerly ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
