There are many therapies that exist that are endorsed by some therapists,celebrities,and patients,but may be ineffective (e.g. ,dolphin therapy,laughter therapy,SPARX,direct analysis).What are the five reasons that can help us to understand why these therapies sometimes gain a dedicated public following?

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(1)Spontaneous remission.The patient's recovery may have nothing at all to do with the treatment.All of us have our "ups and downs." Similarly,many psychological problems are self-limiting or cyclical and improve without any intervention.A breakup with our latest crush may depress us for a while,but most of us will improve even without professional help.This phenomenon is known as spontaneous remission.Even with forms of cancer that are nearly always lethal,tumours occasionally disappear without further treatment,although such events are rare (Silverman,1987).Spontaneous remission is surprisingly common in psychotherapy.Only if people who are treated improve at a rate that exceeds that of untreated people,or those on a wait list,can we rule out the effects of spontaneous remission.
(2)The placebo effect.The pesky placebo effect (see Chapters 2 and 12)can lead to significant symptom relief.By instilling hope and the conviction that we can rise to life's challenges,virtually any credible treatment can be helpful in alleviating our demoralisation.
(3)Self-serving biases.Even when they don't improve,patients who are strongly invested in psychotherapy and have shelled out a lot of money in the pursuit of well-being can convince themselves they've been helped.Because it would be too troubling to admit to oneself (or others)that it's all been a waste of time,energy,and effort,there's often a strong psychological pull to find value in a treatment (Axsom & Cooper,1985).Patients may also overestimate their apparent successes while ignoring,downplaying,or explaining away their failures as a means of maintaining their self-esteem (Beyerstein & Hadaway,1991).
(4)Regression to the mean.It's a statistical fact of life that extreme scores tend to become less extreme on retesting,a phenomenon known as regression to the mean.If you receive a zero on your first psychology exam,there's a silver lining to this grey cloud: You'll almost surely do better on your second exam! Conversely,if you receive a 100 on your first exam,odds are also high you won't do as well the second time around.Scores on measures of psychopathology are no different.If a patient comes into treatment extremely depressed,the chances are high she'll be less depressed in a few weeks.Regression to the mean can fool therapists and their patients into believing that a useless treatment is effective.It's an especially tricky problem in evaluating whether psychotherapy is effective,because most patients enter psychotherapy when their symptoms are most extreme.
(5)Retrospective rewriting of the past.In some cases,we may believe we've improved even when we haven't because we misremember our initial (pre-treatment)level of adjustment as worse than it was.We expect to change after treatment,and may adjust our memories to fit this expectation.

There Are Many Therapies That Exist That Are Endorsed by Some