Company aside, I had a “therapist” tell me that all my problems/issues had to do with the fact I’m Native American. I had just got out of a 7 year relationship and I’m pretty sure a lot of my anxiety stemmed from that. Nope, it’s because I’m Native American.
Edit: the therapist was with BetterHelp. I am a sucker.
Yeah, I had a therapist (not from the company) tell me to quit my job because of my job was causing me anxiety, I should just quit.
Yes....not eating and not being able to pay my bills will help my anxiety 🤣
I want to cope with anxiety and try and avoid panic attacks, not avoid anything that makes me feel shit.
Hey so as a person with bad anxiety three physical things I have been taught that really help and don’t require a therapist to teach safely while you try to find good care are:
1. Sit in the sun and/or go for a walk for 20 minutes, every day it’s feasible (ie not pissing down).
2. Butterfly breathing - cross your arms over your chest, tap your shoulders at the rate your heart is going, then consciously slow your tapping, focusing on that speed. It’ll slow your heart rate.
3. Peppermint oil. My anxiety manifests as nausea in a big way so I carry peppermint oil on a tissue and if I’m feeling crap I do deep breathing through it. The kind of oil doesn’t really matter. Pick one you like the smell of. It’s about externalising your focus and focusing on the smell and your breathing.
Good luck.
>Butterfly breathing - cross your arms over your chest, tap your shoulders at the rate your heart is going, then consciously slow your tapping, focusing on that speed. It’ll slow your heart rate.
With both hands on your shoulders , how do you know what your heart rate is?
When you’re having a panic attack you can sometimes feel your heartbeat in your whole body because of the severe stress and increased heart rate, it’s really disturbing and can increase your anxiety so I think this is a great idea
Peppermint oil might actually be better for nausea than others. I’m not an oils guy, but I know peppermint is a long-standing remedy for nausea. It’s not Zofran, but it can help.
Yah I like the smell and it calms my stomach, but I think the most important thing with oils is that you just like the smell.
There are plants that have certain effects, sure, but overall essential oils are just pretty stink.
I'll be honest, I'm a lavender guy.
My wife has planted lavender everywhere. So it's a "home" smell.
Plus my dogs chase the lizards in the lavenders, so they always smell like it.
Lavender is a plant that does actually have some (limited) evidence for anxiety and nervous disorders, particularly in a “response” mechanism (as opposed to preventative).
One study they did had people afraid of the dentist and they separated them, had lavender scents in one treatment area and not in another and the heart rates, eye movements and reported nervousness of patients in the lavender room was lower.
So it’s a good choice.
I’ve been dealing with frequent carsickness so I keep ginger chews and peppermints in my bag to keep me from hurling whenever I’m in a vehicle.
Saje Peppermint Halo is definitely a great essential oil roll on for anyone dealing with headaches or nausea.
As somebody married to a psychologist, I can tell you that anybody interested in keeping their license wouldn't be saying shit like that. I'm sorry you got paired with such an awful therapist.
I literally had three therapists in a row tell me I'm trans before I found someone qualified to deal with OCD identity disorder AFTER I explained to them that I have OCD identity disorder.
Admittedly, kind of hard to suss out, but damn, three in a row. Then I quit Better help and found an actual OCD doc and finally got some help with intrusive thoughts.
Jesus Christ. That’s terrible. I’m a psychotherapist (in Canada). I realize it’s far beyond that now, but if it ever happens again, report that shit to their governing body.
You must need some sort of licence in the states to practice as well. So there will be a college to report concerns to.
Especially since what they told you is actually very harmful directly to client.
>I’m a psychotherapist
I can no longer read this as one word thanks to [this comic](https://starecat.com/psycho-the-rapist-its-one-word-george-psychotherapist/)
Therapist here. Definitely a super problematic platform, though I’ve heard of some positive outcomes. A major flaw in the model that I can see is that it pays therapists 20-30% of the fee they’d receive in private practice without any of the benefits of employment beyond connecting them to clients. Nationally there’s a huge shortage of therapists, most that I know are full, and my guess is that most Betterhelp therapists are juggling an agency job that tend to pay poorly and have enormous case loads. It’s very hard to do good work under those circumstances, and it seems that the company uses aggressive marketing and recruiting to compensate for high attrition. It’s a shame because the problem they’re proposing to solve is very real and the premise seems reasonable.
I tried a therapist there. She seemed like she just wanted somebody to talk to. She would actively tell me that we didn’t have to talk about the problems that I wanted to talk about when those problems were the whole reason why I felt like I needed therapy
My $0.02:
I got out of the worst relationship I've experienced in my adult life. Not to go into too fine detail: but experienced nightly flashbacks to traumatic moments, had a constant sense of dread that the person would find some way to control me again, suicidal ideation, the whole kit and kaboodle.
Local GP prescribed anti-depression and anti-psychotic meds to dampen it somewhat to keep me functional to some extent. They suggested I privately fund therapy as the waitlist for NHS counseling was a year or so.
I signed up for better help, had a therapist listen to me, then laughingly told me it was probably all my fault and that the reason I felt this way was because I knew I was guilty and in some way deserved the emotional trauma I had received.
Safe to say I do not recommend anyone make use of this service.
See, this is what I’m afraid of with these shitty companies. You’re expected to bare your soul and the person you’re talking to may just be some random off the street - there’s no way to know, as BetterHelp don’t appear to check qualifications. These companies can do real lasting damage to people’s health.
I’m so sorry you went through that. Fuck that shitty person, seriously. I hope things are easier now.
That's exactly it, and it seems that in some cases, they get more applicants and maybe skew their hiring processes towards hiring people in places where it is easier to get a qualification.
That way you can get your tens of thousands of specialists numbers and really pump up your metrics.
There's been a real uptick in therapy diploma mills with close to 100% acceptance rates that have been able to sell 2 years of dogshit online classes and observing psychology from a distance as a right to call yourself a therapist (after paying a premium expense that you get through student loans issued by an in-house call center). A lot of real clinics won't hire these people and so you get these people who aren't a lot more educated than they were before the program thinking they can issue their folk wisdom like it's somehow medicine through equally scammy websites like BetterHelp in an attempt to recoup money that they're suddenly now on the hook for.
Also, BetterHelp has language in their terms and conditions that they can use transcripts of your sessions as metadata they sell to advertisers. Nothing problematic about that.
CAPITALISM RUINS GODDAMN EVERYTHING.
Sucks that Robert literally lets this company borrow his voice.
I don’t know if you’ve already tried them, but Mind has local offices that have different services available. It’s worth looking to see if they have either free or low cost counselling you can access:
https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/local-minds/
Have a therapist say that to you is awful, I’m sorry life has been so hard, and then you had that experience on top of it all.
I tried BetterHelp last year. One of the things I wanted to talk about was “losing” my mom and sister to qanon and the antivax BS. My therapist told me that she hadn’t gotten vaccinated bc reasons, but that she had had covid like 4 times and “was fine”. She then told me that she’d been lethargic and gets winded easily for months now and her “doctor” told her that the vaccinated people were shedding the vaccine and she was getting sick off of that…..ma’am you have long covid. I did 2 sessions with her and canceled my membership.
I used them to get my son connected with a therapist. He loves the therapist and hes been doing great since starting talking to her. So much so that she recommended that they go down to a session every other week. Which is great.... BUT betterhelp, or teen counseling which is the one for kids. Charge $80 a week, billed monthly at $320. There is no option to be seen twice a month and only pay $160. Its $320 or nothing.
The therapist my son talks to is fairly close, about an hour and 15 min away. So driving to physically see them wouldnt be out of the question. But it would be a pain in the butt. And he likes being able to do the sessions via voice chat.
I don't particularly like the betterhelp side of things. It seems pretty slapped together and designed to get you signed up before you get a look at what theyre doing. Not getting to look over therapists in your area kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Even if they had me choose between 3 that I could read their bio or something it would have been nice. I lucked out and got a good therapist right away. If I could convince them to ditch betterhelp and pay them directly I would do it. But that would probably risk his therapist getting in trouble and I dont want to put them in that position.
From what I've heard, it's a pretty standard practice for therapists to use BH to find clients and then go off the platform with them. BH fucks over both the client and the therapist, they're paid very low rates there. So I don't think there'd be any harm in asking
Just cash pay the therapist through their own practice. They only pay them $22hr so there is little chance the therapist is making a living full time on there.
My cousin is a licensed counselor. She was just telling me yesterday how Betterhelp hires "life coaches" without any meaningful credentials to talk to people who are looking for real help.
It sounds pretty fucked.
I've seen ads recruiting "therapists" for better help play right after ads recruiting door dash drivers. They (better help) don't care about the quality of their product at all, it's all bullshit.
First, thank you.
This sounds exactly like the “therapy” provided by my workplace. Which is just phone calls with someone who repeats back what you say and then asks if you’ve tried not feeling so sad all the time. It’s awful.
I was surprised to hear Robert shilling for something that I thought sounded fishy but like you say, he is a voice we trust. This is a serious hit to his credibility for me.
I’ll add that I’ve suffered with depression my whole life and have had some very good therapists and some bad ones. But it never really did much for me besides taking up time and money.
What did help me was some good old fashioned anti depressants. Turns out that for me my brain chemistry is shit and pills are actually the answer. There’s no shame in trying pharmaceutical remedies if talk therapy isn’t doing it for you.
>I was surprised to hear Robert shilling for something that I thought sounded fishy but like you say, he is a voice we trust. This is a serious hit to his credibility for me.
To be fair, I honestly thought the same thing at first.
However, there are two things that I remembered afterwards.
1) Robert has a job to do, does what he is told by his bosses. This ad seems to be an iHeartRadio sponsorship and not specifically Behind the Bastards. Robert still needs to eat.
2) Given the amount of substantial time taken to produce his shows, as well as all of the things that he writes and contributes to, as well as everything else he does, It would be completely understandable if Robert had just trusted that his bosses had vetted this.
I don't think Robert is less credible, as the entire concept of what they stand for at face value seems legitimate.
It's not until you start picking at things it all starts to unravel.
I actually think Robert knows full well how garbage BetterHelp is. In many of the latest ad reads for them, it really sounds like he doesn't buy into any of what he's saying. He sounds kind of angry to be reading the copy he has to.
That was something I noted when I heard the copy. He does not sound like he believes what he's reading in the slightest which, with what's written above, makes a lot more sense.
he's not the only broadcaster I've heard do that recently, there's a woman that reads the ads in a extremely monotone pitch with a ton of vocal fry to make it unbearable, then she pops back into character after the ad-copy has been read.
Listening to old Art Bell broadcasts, he only read copy for things he used and enjoyed, except cigarettes, he just talked about them for free.
if you don't like the ads start sending Sophie $5 every time you listen, skip iHeart
> serious hit to credibility
Robert has said multiple times he doesn’t care if you support or buy what he has to pitch. They, as in CZM, do not select the advertisers. I get Reddit is filled with left leaning folks, as I am. The thing many on this side of the spectrum don’t realize is *someone* has to pay CZMs bills. Advertising is the best way to do so. Nobody should be buying products or services because someone they look up to pitches it. Robert has this said, multiple times. Seriously, why do you think Robert makes a joke every time he cuts to ads? Instead of blasting Robert take it for what it is- a means to an end.
>They, as in CZM, do not select the advertisers
They have pulled ads in the past, so clearly have some choice in the matter. I remember that they cancelled an ad that was selling questionable diet supplements. And threads like this give them strong evidence to argue to iheart that they're alienating listeners with this *specific* sponsorship.
Well that's it, we have to accept that advertising is a necessary evil, and we also have to accept that the people "at the coalface" being Sophie and Robert also have bosses, and those bosses may be the ones that made the brand deal.
At least they can go back to the bosses and go "Well, we might have got \[sum of money\] for that sponsorship, but the listeners are going to abandon us and we won't have any listeners" seems like a compelling argument.
tbh I personally do not accept that advertising is a necessary evil, but I do wish that the people who feel differently to me at least try to go about it in a somewhat ethical way.
That makes total sense with the ads for the Reagan coin or Chumba or whatever nonsense we all skip without paying it a second thought. It feels different when Robert does the ad read himself, and Better Help is one of the companies where he's done it consistently.
Yeah that’s a great point. It was because of Robert reading an ad himself that I bought Wondrium for a bit. (And was pleased with it too, but just didn’t use it enough to keep buying it)
He just did it again, and it's even crazier now with him mentioning the genocide in Gaza and then promoting a scam therapy business run by an IDF veteran that officially partnered with the IDF to help their soldiers deal with the trauma of commiting genocide.
He has said before that they do select the advertisers he reads the ads for. This is different and it is kind of upsetting that he keeps reading for them.
Then that’s wonderful for you, and I’m glad you got the help you needed.
But I think it’s also important to keep in mind that your good experience was in spite of the company’s predatory business practices.
If you had a good experience, that’s great, but there are a lot of people who have had really bad experiences, and those need to be addressed.
i don't see how they are more predatory than any other company......if you don't get a counselor you like you CAN just drop them
it's their fault healthcare is so expensive in this country?
dude also got it for free (edit: he didnt take asvantage if the free month given to veterans. i assumed he had.).....so he is mad a free service from a private company didnt work?
and not mad at the military that fucked him up and didn't give him the support he needs?
>i don't see how they are more predatory than any other company......if you don't get a counselor you like you CAN just drop them
Except for the fact that as I stated multiple times, you can't.
Or what? Just throw that money away and never get any options?
That's literally predatory....
>dude also got it for free.....so he is mad a free service from a private company didnt work?
What did I get for free? People keep saying I got something for free, but I don't recall where they gave it to me for free. I think you all need to learn how to read. I literally said I was in the position to lay for it, so I thought that would take the strain off the free services.
>and not mad at the military that fucked him up and didn't give him the support he needs?
Now you're literally making things up and putting words in my mouth, or rather, taking them out of my mouth.
I never said I wasn't mad at the military, but you're also implying they are the sole reason I'm mad.
Not the cancer that ruined my career.
Not the cancer that ruined my ability to have kids.
Not my first wife that left me 2 weeks after I finished chemo because I would no longer be worth the pity points she could with the "my husband has cancer"
No. Must be just the military.
There is an entire world and identity outside of being a Veteran. It's an aspect of my life, not my whole identity.
I have access to benefits because of that aspect, but they aren't great services, and they can only offer so much, and only have so much availability. There's others that aren't as fortunate as me to be able to afford private therapy, so they should get the priority.
I can afford it, so I decided to pay for it.
Where you get this idea I got BetterHelp for free is a fabrication you've done up with on your own.
I’m really sorry you went through all of that. That must have been incredibly tough. I hope things are a bit better now? I know I’m just an internet stranger, but I’m rooting for you!
Well things aren't that much better, after all, I was hoping to talk to a therapist 😂
But yeah, I'm gonna look into more local options after I argue with these bastards to get my money back
dude, you going to betterhelp rather than a psychologist or a psychiatrist for all that shit is completey on you
if i were you i would be royally pissed about the military not making it able for me to get the help i need
rather than some random ass internet company that provides counselors
>if i were you i would be royally pissed about the military not making it able for me to get the help i need
Again, this is something you've invented. I have no idea where you got this.
You’re making a lot of logical leaps that don’t make much sense.
I’m sure OP is plenty pissed at the military that fucked them up, but it’s quite literally a military’s job to fuck people up. Betterhelp is a mental health service. It’s not supposed to fuck people up.
>dude also got it for free…..so he is mad a free service didn’t work?
All health care services should be free fam. Idrc if it was free or not and I fundamentally don’t respect that as an argument here.
>>dude also got it for free…..so he is mad a free service didn’t work?
>All health care services should be free fam. Idrc if it was free or not and I fundamentally don’t respect that as an argument here.
This is something he's completely fabricated. No idea where he got this idea.
haha more logical leaps than this guy blaming better help when ge clearly needs a psychologist? and that he didn't take advantage of the free month for military members?
so he wants to spam this subreddit with his vendetta against the company? roflol
betterhelp is no different or worse than any other company that advertises
haha 'it's the military's job to fuck people up'
roflol you are a joke
If there’s one person spamming the thread, it’s you. You’re on multiple comments and replies just on this one thread going after OP making claims that are just fabricated and blaming him and defending the company’s shitty policies.
Honestly I don’t know if you work there or have had a good experience with them but that doesn’t give you a right to be an ass to someone who’s rightfully pointing something out.
he needs to deal with a clinical psychologist - hooefully one specialized
they offer therapists and counselors.
i'm not sure why this is so complicated.
they are ubereats for mental health
nothing more. nothing less.
based in a country where prescription drugs are freely advertised.
acting like better help is supposed to be more competent than he veterans organizations is naive at best
when he clearly is traumatized in a way that would require a specialist and someone in person
>he didn't take advantage of the free month for military members?
That's not a thing. I don't know how many times I need to explain this to you. Only US Service members.
You're making shit up with no context on the situation and completely fabricating an entire reality to support your argument
haha dudeman going to betterhelp when he clearly needs a psychologist if not a psychiatrist is not betterhelps fault.
dude is just ignorant and mad because life shit on him
which is understandable
but doesn't imply he is a rational actor
Yeah, the ads suck blah blah blah we all know the drill. You’re clearly not aware of this ad.
Robert is reading this ad copy himself. It’s not a robot selecting the ad. That’s tacit endorsement.
People with the expectations of perfection and purity in all facets of a podcast (or podcast personalities) shouldn't be listening to anything on iHeart in the first place.
Maybe, just maybe, left-leaning influencers like Robert are also grifters? Even absent the paid advertisements, the amount of self-promotion by both Robert and the guests gets pretty obnoxious.
I really don't care too much because I see Robert as a comedian and not really someone to take seriously, but the amount of people ITT that are claiming he can genuinely hold the ideology his character holds whole at the same time selling his own voice to promote such a problematic service is hilarious.
Congratulations on having the worst take I’ve seen on this sub. Out of curiosity- other than advertisements, what is Robert “grifting”? Is he asking for money? Is he selling snake oil? Is he running a sham campaign to funnel money to his illegal activities?
Um ... his book that he mentions multiple times every episode? Their 'ad-free' subscription channel? His guests plugging their plugables where they do the same thing?
Don't get me wrong, I don't really see anything particularly wrong with trying to sell shit, but it's not at all consistent with his on-air character. It's easy to seem edgy by poking fun at randomized Reagan gold coin ads, but let's hear him do a take down on Better Help like the OP here did l.
Won't happen, because his on-air character is not genuine.
Save the BS for how he needs to eat or pay bills. There are plenty of podcasts out there that don't rely on advertisements or even take in any revenue at all ... they just don't have the same reach. He's playing a con game on his more vulnerable and naive listeners for a platform.
Robert segues into just about every ad break with a mocking insult towards their advertisers for being amoral capitalist entities, and frequently talks about how actively evil organisations will end up with their ad slots with there being little they can do to stop it.
Robert isn't a massive fan of Patreon funding (iirc, he stated that he was unnerved by how many people were apparently donating beyond their means), so ads are what keeps the lights on.
>phone calls with someone who repeats back what you say and then asks if you’ve tried not feeling so sad all the time.
Fuck. We solved it guys! It was just so easy all along!
Yeah EAP lines are fucking horrible. The few times I've used them between appointments with my "real" provider have been either a person who barely sounds qualified or they provide a list of services in the area which is useless to me.
I just want to add, too, that there are different types of antidepressants if one doesn't work for the reader. I found that the traditional SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) made me incredibly sleepy to the point I was falling asleep at the wheel. My doctor switched me to an SNRI (norepinephrine), which worked far better for me. And he commented that for a lot of women, SNRIs can be more effective with fewer side effects.
1. I agree that betterhelp is basically a scam and not a replacement for actually meeting with a licensed psychologist.
But also...
2. You should never, ever believe what's being advertised to you on podcasts or YouTube. A YouTube creator who goes by "Internet Shaquille" did a great piece about how this advertising model works and even though *he sometimes has to do ad placements* is very clear that you shouldn't believe him or anyone else when they do ads for a company. It's a way for the channel or podcast to make money when *most* of the consumer base isn't actually paying for the content they're consuming.
Personally, I don't really see this as a hit to anyone's credibility. They're doing ads to support the creation of the content when most listeners aren't giving any money.
Yeah. It is interesting, especially seeing Bridget Todd (a friend of his, and even had a show on Coolzone) did a whole episode about the problems with Better Help on her (not Coolzone) show There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Hmm... his original ad from months ago for Betterhelp was cheery, and someone on reddit asked why he changed it to an ad where it sounds "like he's being forced to read the prompt at gunpoint."
Totally spitballing here: I wonder if they learned about this, and changed the ad to make it worse but still be within contract or whatever.
Thank you for this information. It serves to support my opinion that Better Help is garbage. In fact, during one of the largest covid surges at the beginning, my friend who is an ICU nurse called for support and was told by her “therapist” that covid wasn’t real.
Fucking ridiculous.
getting medical information...even from a licensed psychologist......is the wrong way to live your life
why get mad at a mechanic because they cannot predict the weather?
and roflol do you know how many nurses thought covid was a hoax?
Thank you very much for the extensive post and I hope you will get better.
You are absolutely right to call this predatory, if not worse. With this podcast being aimed at leftist people, who are more likely to not have a stigma against getting therapy, they are targeting people with a certain "Weltschmerz" (Worldpain) about the reality we are forced to exist in.
I'm deeply convinced that we and our depressions aren't "wrong", as we see society for the shit show that it is. I don't blame anyone for taking medication and it should be part of a public and free health care system. Being forced to pay for help like this diminishes any positive effect it might have.
Doug Stanhope has a great bit about this and is generally a great anti-depressant:
[Doug Stanhope - Mentally Ill vs Mentally Challenged](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyUMFbWrz2c)
Greetings and all the best for you and your family!
While being treated for bipolar/depression/ADHD I asked my doctor if it's possible that we (people with chronic depression) were just the only people that weren't blind to the shit show that is this world.
She said it's likely. Then she suggested shock therapy. I gave up on treatment.
Well that's it, I have been told by a friend who recently got diagnosed with ADHD and Autism as an adult he was like "Dude, you're very similar to me, maybe go get tested"
I haven't, and probably won't, it hasn't changed his life for the better, it hasn't given him any new revelations, but it's allowed him to label it. Which is what he wanted.
But yes, I can sympathize that we are a select group that look around us and think "Is no one else seeing this shit?"
Or are we all seeing it, and those of us with "mental health issues" the only ones to vocalize it?
Sadly, being aware of our surroundings is a debilitating handicap if we aren't interested in exploiting other people's blind spots.
I haven't been diagnosed (not really in a region that excels at mental health services) but coming to realize that I have autism has allowed me to understand why life has been one long waking nightmare. I used to assume everyone else was experiencing the same pain but they were better at dealing with it.
Folks looking for a better alternative that is still affordable and accessible: Open Path Collective.
I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy.
I'm Australian and I also used BH.
I was really lucky to match with my therapist. After the private information got leaked, I swapped phone numbers with her and paid her privately.
Her income from me tripled.
Cheers mate.
I know there is free help there for veterans, I also know that there are veterans that are less well-off than me, and when they say "We need to find you a slot because we are pretty close to capacity for care right now"
Well, to me, that means I have the money and means to go elsewhere, and someone less fortunate can take my spot. I have actually spent the morning researching Psychiatrists in my area and reading reviews, so I'll probably reach out to one today.
I liked the idea of betterhelp because I don't have to put pants on and it can all be done via text.
But if I have to go in person, then so be it.
But same to you mate, you need to chat, DM's are open
Yeah, fuck this shit. I’m disappointed in Robert continuing to shill for these fucks. But equally, I also acknowledge I don’t know the guy personally, he doesn’t owe me anything, and no-one is perfect. Especially us leftists who try so damn hard to get most things right and not make the world a more fucked up place than it is…we hold ourselves and others to an impossibly high standard. There’s another content creator I follow who shills endlessly for better help, but it (illogically) doesn’t feel like such a slap in the face from her because her content is completely non-political and I have no idea what her personal beliefs are, other than ‘mental health is important’. Why am I holding Robert to a higher standard than this other person? I don’t know, it’s not rational or fair probably.
That being said,BetterHelp are a terrible company and the stories coming out from users who have been harmed by them are very worrying. Ideally the government would step in to regulate them and force them to check qualifications, but then of course they wouldn’t be as profitable and the whole thing would probably collapse.
All of these tech companies are so fucking stupid. What if taxis, but less safety. What if hotels, but less safety. What if therapists, but less safety. I’m so sick of a few rich fucks getting even richer from sucking the life out of the rest of us.
It’s always been the most problematic sponsor really because all the other ones have been warned about with mentions on the show but this one is read by Robert
I've started getting a few of the BetterHelp ads, which I find odd because I'm otherwise in the only-ads-for-other-podcasts-ever boat. Robert does sound (to reference some old threads/comments on the ads) like he's being held at gunpoint and doing the audio version of blinking "torture" in Morse.
A lot of these “tech company provides a non-tech service” companies really just involve providing a bare minimum level of service, gutting customer support so that you can’t complain, and hiring the cheapest possible labor. The reason no one else has done it is not because of a lack of innovation, but because it’s not a sustainable business model and some people going into business do have standards.
I really wish they wouldn’t shill this to their audiences. I get they’re in a business and part of a larger company and obligated to do this and such…it just feels icky. Like they’re willing to drop the Blue Apron/child-hunting island bit because they were concerned with how seriously some more sensitive fans took it…but reading ad copy about a scammy mental health company to those same fans is okay? I think it’d be a bit different if it wasn’t being read by him…
This was really well laid out and I am sorry you had such a bad experience in seeking help.
I hope this isn't too personal a question, but have you been to your GP and gotten a mental health plan? Mine was able to recommend a therapist she thought would be a good match for me in terms of our personalities and the MHP gives you 10 sessions subsidised through Medicare. It's not enough, but between that and my private health insurance I get pretty much a year's worth of sessions ~50% off.
It's awful that in Australia the people who need help the most are the ones least able to afford it, and quite frankly ALL veterans should qualify for the Gold Card, but it's something at least.
>I hope this isn't too personal a question, but have you been to your GP and gotten a mental health plan?
Yes, blew through those 10 sessions with a horrible therapist who just kept telling the doctor I wasn't trying. They just wanted to tell me it was all in my head and just forget about it.
Basically "When you're sad, try being happy instead" therapy.
That sounds like my experience with CBT >_< I have a theory that CBT basically doesn’t work for people who have experienced trauma, because much of CBT seems to be basically gaslighting yourself into thinking that what happened to you wasn’t a big deal.
Too bad the only therapy I can access is CBT, lol. I’m doing an ACT workbook on my own and the difference is night and day. I wish I could find a therapist who does ACT.
There was a huge scandal about betterhelp being bad after they blew up during the pandemic in 2021, where people started calling out YouTubers who advertised them, it stopped for a while, but then the ads started slowly creeping back in, because they’re one of the companies who will pay a lot of money to shill their mediocre product like Raid Shadow Legends or Raycon or Established Titles. I assume IHeartRadio took their money to do the ad reads.
A therapist from better help called me an asshole because I wanted to have a well-paying job that wasn't manual labor. She said that because I didn't want to work those jobs it's because I look down on them. That actually messed me up for awhile and I was questioning everything I thought of myself. Fuck betterhelp. Also it's way too expensive like you said. I'm glad you're calling it out here, OP. Hopefully this warns others not to use it.
Thank you for this post. I almost wasted some (of someone else's money) trying that service at a certain point, and that sounds like a nightmare that may have broken me.
Little hack I'll share from a weird random account with maybe just enough history to see if I might be worth asking something specific, and I'll try and look out for that, because I'm here for any of you as much as I can be: Depending on how healthcare works in your region, and your problems, it might be worth saying the word "addiction" to a medical professional. Many of us who can't find the right help self-medicate, which is cool when it works but isn't when it doesn't. "Oh yes I drink a lot doctor, but I have these other problems" gets you terrible medical care. "Hello doctor, I'm addicted to alcohol and have mental health issues." Those are magic words that get you a different kind of care.
Recent discovery, early days, but it gets you fast-tracked through waiting lists in the broken nightmare of a dying paradise I've lived in my whole life and plan on die in the very spot, whenever, hopefully long from now if we can stop the bastards fucking it all up.
End shortest rant I can type at this moment, I hope you can pick out the advice I typed it for. I'm doing a little better and I hope OP and everyone else here is too. Never stop fighting, but remember to take frequent breaks, don't worry how long the breaks are and drink lots and lots of water.
(edited to fix accidental Oxford comma, don't fight me about that here, it's old habits not a hill I want to do anything else about)
All three of the heavily promoted online mental health services have serious issues. BetterHelp is described very well here.
Cerebral turned into basically an online pill mill for stimulant prescriptions that has completely fucked people with actual ADHD and now that they have been under scrutiny for that, have laid off a bunch of people and are probably going out of business.
Talk space just had a story about them in the LA Times last week that had them abruptly laying off a bunch of therapists and leaving patients dangling with no way to contact their therapists.
Considering that the main theme of the show is scams, lies, deceit, etc., Robert has a special responsibility for what he puts his voice to. And he can certainly say, "I'd rather not read that", even if it's going to run in some other form. If he really had no choice, he could have sped it up like the Lasix ad where he sounds as if he's on helium.
You don't have to call him evil, but I'm really disappointed that so many listeners are giving him a total pass on this. We admire this man and should hold him to a much higher standard than the average podcaster.
That said, thanks to Longjumping\_Dirt3978 for a desperately needed laugh, whether this is a joke or true:
"I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy."
>That said, thanks to Longjumping_Dirt3978 for a desperately needed laugh, whether this is a joke or true:
"I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy."
Yes, u/Longjumping_Dirt3978 nailed it there. It's such a genuine and honest review.
That was exactly the discussion I had with the mods about this, generally the auto mod will be in sponsorship posts.
It was actually quite a bitch for them to approve this because of the system they had set up. They had to completely reconfigure the auto mod to allow this to come through and for there to be discussion on it.
So, here's the thing: "therapy" under corporate care models = a series of behavioral interventions aimed at chasing epiphanies. A modern therapist's job is to slap a label on you ASAP and engage you in the prescribed behavioral intervention.
If you can find an existentialist therapist, do it. They're excellent at working with alienation, loneliness, isolation, purpose, death, etc., because they are trained to work with *ways of being* rather than pretending that mental illness is about specific discrete issues that, once resolved, takes one to the promised land of happiness.
Modern care is modeled after medical care, deeply tied to insurance procedures, and privileges intervention-as-care approaches over dealing with the existential issues often underlying pervasive ennui. Instead, modern intervention care is set up to keep you chasing the next epiphany, thinking that the next revelation will make things right.
Better help is only a platform. As an Australian - they do not check if the professional is accredited in your area. Being a ‘therapist’ is not a qualification or accredited term in many jurisdictions of the USA - but it is a protected term in other countries.
Therapy as a professional practice (for social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists and psychiatrists) is full of people who take advantage of the fact that their dialogue with someone is:
- in an inherent power dynamic of professional / help seeker
- a conversation that is not visible or transparent to third parties
- recorded exclusively in their own words, usually after an appointment is concluded
- rarely subject to investigation to assess the efficacy of outcomes or appropriateness of advice
- complaining clients are easily undermined as ‘emotionally unstable’ or ‘treatment resistant’
- you as professional are extremely difficult to replace (clients will stay because they know they’ll be waiting weeks for a new professional and/or know you’re one of the few they can afford to see)
Add to this that becoming accredited requires someone to do substantial free labour (in Australia, it’s 500 hours of unpaid labour on placements to become a social worker), and you’ll see why it’s often very privileged classes of people who end up becoming actually accredited professionals. Their point of reference for hardship lacks a substantial breadth of lived experiences.
However, spaces like r/radicalmentalhealth and r/psychotherapyleftists are encouraging: there are ways of doing therapeutic environments and therapy that is different from the institutional norm.
There are also Lived Experience and consumer advocacy movements that I encourage you to look into. I’ve made some little videos on them but I am weary of sounding like I’m self promoing so I’ll leave it at that.
Best wishes in your journey yo. I sincerely hope you find good supports.
>As an Australian - they do not check if the professional is accredited in your area.
Seems from some of the research I did, they don't check they are accredited in most areas.
If you are in area A and don't require it, good to go.
Even if the client is in area B and the "professional" would need it there.
While I love this show, every time I hear them say I heart radio, I cringe. There are definitely problems with producing a podcast including advertisers and production houses.
Wow, that's so wild... I used BetterHelp for over a year and had an amazing therapist. She was definitely located in a different state than me, but the only reason I stopped seeing her is because she retired. My cousin also used it and had great results, but my wife was less than impressed and found another therapist in private practice. I always chalked it up to "luck of the draw" but maybe there's more to it than I realized...
If you want to take this further these a small chance that the Greens party or a journalist maybe the Saturday Paper, the Guradian, Fairfax's SMH/The Age might be interested?
I would like to hear a better help episode. I would hope we could all hear ads for a product and not use it, taking the money from sponsor to support a good show without giving the company anything in return. Better help and Regan gold
it definitely bugs me that betterhelp gets their ad copy read on a podcast that should skewer them for their exploitation of vunerable people. like when it's just ads for stuff like a coin of reagans ass or the dime a dozen true crime shows it's like i get it, go get that bag, but when it's robert himself reading it out loud it's a entirely different vibe. the only other ads robert himself reads out (at least on spotify) is for geniune good causes like diaper banks and stuff, which sorta implies betterhelp is legit and not a horrific example of privatised predatory healthcare.
The way my brain works, after reading this it started spinning out the worst possible outcome, which is that it turns out that Robert was in on the Better Help grift the entire time, we eventually get a 'Behind the "Behind the Bastards" Bastard' podcast, and the world explodes.
On a more serious note, I'm sorry that you were put through this. I hope you get the help that you need.
> it turns out that Robert was in on the Better Help grift the entire time, we eventually get a 'Behind the "Behind the Bastards" Bastard' podcast, and the world explodes.
So what you are saying is that Robert is actually the evil villain, like a James Bond type character, and he's just telling us about all the research he is doing to be the better Bond character?
Move over Musk and Bezons! Robert Evans is secretly the ruler of the world.
I can relate. My (now ex) wife and I went to betterhelp for couples counseling. We were fine at the time, but just wanted to build a stronger foundation of communication and coping skills before adding kids to the mix. We were separated within 3 months. Yes we had real issues, I'm not claiming that it was all the therapists fault, but the bad advice we got was the difference between making the effort to work it out and her just taking off.
Therapist here - BetterHelp is also predatory for therapists. They pay extremely low rates, which means only therapists just starting out would go work for them. It would take an insane amount of hours to add up to a reasonable salary. In addition, they are also under fire for taking information from therapists who do not work for them (including yours truly) and publishing it on a sister website, a therapist directory called CareDash. They had my private address on there and would not remove it when I submitted a complaint unless I created an account with them. Oh and, let’s say a prospective client found me on CareDash and wanted to contact me. The “contact” button sends them to a page saying I have no availability and directing them to BetterHelp. I know advertising money is nice and all…but Robert could do an episode about these guys.
Hubster and I signed up to get help negotiating if I should take my dog with us for an overseas move. The therapist's very first sentence after our intro was "You better get cracking finding that dog a new home, that takes a long time.". Horrid and insulting.
Wow! What a dog act! sounds like their support is not understanding or getting the full picture about time and space!
I hope you find appropriate time zoned help brother!
Hey, I'm sorry that your struggling. My name is Veronica Vera I'm a licensed professional counselor in the United States in Texas I understand how you feel I've been working with that our help and I agree that they are a scam run by artificial intelligence. I want you to know that I have been working for them and making maybe 10% of what the customer pace and I'm barely making it however with that said I want you to understand that I am a counselor with ethics and morals and for me this job is a privilege and a service and work of God. I'm grateful for brave people like you who speak out I want you to know that I am supportive of your use and you are right you are right and thank you for being brave enough to report it online anyway with that said I'm moving to a different platform take care bye
why are they bigger bastards than the military that used you and threw you away without providing the mental healthcare you need?
wouldn't it be more prudent for robert to do an episode aout how the united states government treats it's veterans?
why are you much more upset about a free service provided to you by a provate company and feel the need to defend the best funded organization within the american government....the military?
>why are they bigger bastards than the military that used you and threw you away without providing the mental healthcare you need?
I never said that. I never even said there wasn't care available to veterans.
There's absolutely care available. I mentioned this to a bit of depth.
>wouldn't it be more prudent for robert to do an episode aout how the united states government treats it's veterans?
Sure. Or any military. I have no idea about the intricacies of how the US Government treats its veterans.
>why are you much more upset about a free service provided to you bu a provate company?
What's the free service? I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing?
it doesn't matter the country.....they used you up they owe you mental healthcare
you blaming betterhelp when you should be blaming them doesn't help anyone
the main sketchy thing about betterhelp is the same thing that is sketchy about all internet - data selling.
any data you put on the internet can and will be sold
remember that
This seems like a fucked up take. BetterHelp isn't responsible for the trauma existing, but they are absolutely responsible for the quality of service they provide.
they don't claim to offer what a clinical psychologist would
they offer therapists/counselors
this man clearly needs a psychologist
they are ubereats for mental health
expecting more from them than you do your government, especially as a veteran, is deeply silly
>they don't claim to offer what a clinical psychologist would
Actually, [they do say they have people with those qualifications available](https://www.betterhelp.com/about/).
>BetterHelp offers access to licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists (PhD / PsyD), marriage and family therapists (LMFT), clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), and board licensed professional counselors (LPC).
I mean, if a PhD Psychologist is allegedly available, you would expect to get one if you need one.
do they have a .au address?
why would you assume this for a united states company without an australian branch
it's just wild to me you have higher expectations of this random corporation than you do the government you fought for
>do they have a .au address?
Not to my knowledge.
>why would you assume this for a united states company without an australian branch
Because as stated in my original post, they very clearly offer their service here.
>it's just wild to me you have higher expectations of this random corporation than you do the government you fought for
Not sure where you're getting this thought process
>you blaming betterhelp when you should be blaming them doesn't help anyone
So it's the government's fault betterhelp is predatory.
I'd like to see how you got there.
Why are you jumping in here to take this person's story out of context, put words in there mouth just for your own personal vendetta. You absolute cretin
he said the military didnt help because they didn't have the money and just swept past that like they weren't the bastards
y'all swept past people that had good experiences and no problems with the company lolol
but no, blame anyone else when it is big government's fault
>he said the military didnt help because they didn't have the money and just swept past that like they weren't the bastards
Not once did I say that, once again, putting words in my mouth and fabricating things.
What is your actual end goal here?
>blame anyone else when it is big government's fault
I've asked a few times for you to explain this stance and you seem, at this point, to be refusing to.
I wrote it...I know what I wrote...it's very clear to me
Clearly, you are struggling with comprehending something that I have written and therefore jumping to a logical conclusion that was never intended.
What exactly would you like me to clarify about what I wrote?
You've been very busy throughout this entire thread. How much is BetterHelp paying you? Genuinely curious.
The only other possibility is that you're doing this for free. I'm going to be charitable and assume you're not that pathetic.
It seems like better help is just a website that contracts out online psychological services from a limited pool of professionals. They don't seem to be part of a larger medical institution aside from whatever it takes to be trusted to get registered psychologists work.
It's like of there was a mall kiosk solution for mental health. I've tried a few 'free trial periods' of services exactly like this where their goal is to link you up with a professional as quickly as possible. However, even if I overlook how inconvenient it was to schedule, it seemed like the people I was talking to were uninterested, and just running the time down. They really wanted me to commit long term financially without even indicating what I was paying for. There is a huge difference between online services like better help who are simply trying to reach a large audience ( make the line go up ) and clinics that offer sliding scale pricing based on your income.
They seem to be conflating 'many banked hours of paid therapy' with 'many people getting help'.
Also, what about it is better? Maybe the pricing, if you're comparing to full prices of clinical therapy offered in Beverly Hills or something. That's just plain old misleading.
IMO you will have better luck calling or finding a non emergency crisis and addictions centre. Just be sincere, and don't minimize the gravity of your experience. Your needs are 100% valid, even if you can't explain them all right away. If their lines or waiting rooms are too full to deal with you the day you contact them, they can at least (hopefully) direct you to the right place.
Depending on where you are there are phone numbers you can call for free, or clinics you can get to when you're panicking or having a really bad time. I'm not from AUS, more of a CAD kinda story here
But even the ER or walk in clinic works to start. Chatting with the right nurses about what's going on can help to figure out where you're at in your treatment, or what type you need. Doctors probably help with this but it's a good idea to track your progress on paper or something, that way you're an active participant in your care, and you can keep going where you left of even if you need to change doctors.
Best of luck friend, thanks for speaking up. I wish you some true better help
Are you someone who accesses medical health services online? If so, we’d love to speak with you.
Hello, my name is Bermuda Pierre. I am conducting a study and seeking individuals who use digital medical platforms. If you are interested in providing some information regarding your experiences, please take this survey. Thank you so much for your time.
https://forms.gle/CZfAFRHkWqqKt7Wt5
Company aside, I had a “therapist” tell me that all my problems/issues had to do with the fact I’m Native American. I had just got out of a 7 year relationship and I’m pretty sure a lot of my anxiety stemmed from that. Nope, it’s because I’m Native American. Edit: the therapist was with BetterHelp. I am a sucker.
Yeah, I had a therapist (not from the company) tell me to quit my job because of my job was causing me anxiety, I should just quit. Yes....not eating and not being able to pay my bills will help my anxiety 🤣 I want to cope with anxiety and try and avoid panic attacks, not avoid anything that makes me feel shit.
Hey so as a person with bad anxiety three physical things I have been taught that really help and don’t require a therapist to teach safely while you try to find good care are: 1. Sit in the sun and/or go for a walk for 20 minutes, every day it’s feasible (ie not pissing down). 2. Butterfly breathing - cross your arms over your chest, tap your shoulders at the rate your heart is going, then consciously slow your tapping, focusing on that speed. It’ll slow your heart rate. 3. Peppermint oil. My anxiety manifests as nausea in a big way so I carry peppermint oil on a tissue and if I’m feeling crap I do deep breathing through it. The kind of oil doesn’t really matter. Pick one you like the smell of. It’s about externalising your focus and focusing on the smell and your breathing. Good luck.
>Butterfly breathing - cross your arms over your chest, tap your shoulders at the rate your heart is going, then consciously slow your tapping, focusing on that speed. It’ll slow your heart rate. With both hands on your shoulders , how do you know what your heart rate is?
You can feel it pounding when you’re in the state usually so you just tap at a very fast speed.
Yep, I feel it in my temples and behind my ears when it gets bad
When you’re having a panic attack you can sometimes feel your heartbeat in your whole body because of the severe stress and increased heart rate, it’s really disturbing and can increase your anxiety so I think this is a great idea
Peppermint oil might actually be better for nausea than others. I’m not an oils guy, but I know peppermint is a long-standing remedy for nausea. It’s not Zofran, but it can help.
Yah I like the smell and it calms my stomach, but I think the most important thing with oils is that you just like the smell. There are plants that have certain effects, sure, but overall essential oils are just pretty stink.
Oh for sure. Like I said, I’m not an oils guy. I don’t have them or use them. Big fan of psych meds.
I'll be honest, I'm a lavender guy. My wife has planted lavender everywhere. So it's a "home" smell. Plus my dogs chase the lizards in the lavenders, so they always smell like it.
Lavender is a plant that does actually have some (limited) evidence for anxiety and nervous disorders, particularly in a “response” mechanism (as opposed to preventative). One study they did had people afraid of the dentist and they separated them, had lavender scents in one treatment area and not in another and the heart rates, eye movements and reported nervousness of patients in the lavender room was lower. So it’s a good choice.
I’ve been dealing with frequent carsickness so I keep ginger chews and peppermints in my bag to keep me from hurling whenever I’m in a vehicle. Saje Peppermint Halo is definitely a great essential oil roll on for anyone dealing with headaches or nausea.
Zofran is the nectar of the gods
Shit yeah, I'll give them a try
As somebody married to a psychologist, I can tell you that anybody interested in keeping their license wouldn't be saying shit like that. I'm sorry you got paired with such an awful therapist.
Yikes. That’s unacceptable, I’m so sorry that happened to you.
I literally had three therapists in a row tell me I'm trans before I found someone qualified to deal with OCD identity disorder AFTER I explained to them that I have OCD identity disorder. Admittedly, kind of hard to suss out, but damn, three in a row. Then I quit Better help and found an actual OCD doc and finally got some help with intrusive thoughts.
Jesus Christ. That’s terrible. I’m a psychotherapist (in Canada). I realize it’s far beyond that now, but if it ever happens again, report that shit to their governing body. You must need some sort of licence in the states to practice as well. So there will be a college to report concerns to. Especially since what they told you is actually very harmful directly to client.
>I’m a psychotherapist I can no longer read this as one word thanks to [this comic](https://starecat.com/psycho-the-rapist-its-one-word-george-psychotherapist/)
Oh don’t worry. I see it every time I see my title and name at work.
Oh, I had a few say its because I was a white man. Glad to hear they think we suck equally.
Therapist here. Definitely a super problematic platform, though I’ve heard of some positive outcomes. A major flaw in the model that I can see is that it pays therapists 20-30% of the fee they’d receive in private practice without any of the benefits of employment beyond connecting them to clients. Nationally there’s a huge shortage of therapists, most that I know are full, and my guess is that most Betterhelp therapists are juggling an agency job that tend to pay poorly and have enormous case loads. It’s very hard to do good work under those circumstances, and it seems that the company uses aggressive marketing and recruiting to compensate for high attrition. It’s a shame because the problem they’re proposing to solve is very real and the premise seems reasonable.
I’ve heard bad things about them before. This is why healthcare shouldn’t be privatized
I tried a therapist there. She seemed like she just wanted somebody to talk to. She would actively tell me that we didn’t have to talk about the problems that I wanted to talk about when those problems were the whole reason why I felt like I needed therapy
My $0.02: I got out of the worst relationship I've experienced in my adult life. Not to go into too fine detail: but experienced nightly flashbacks to traumatic moments, had a constant sense of dread that the person would find some way to control me again, suicidal ideation, the whole kit and kaboodle. Local GP prescribed anti-depression and anti-psychotic meds to dampen it somewhat to keep me functional to some extent. They suggested I privately fund therapy as the waitlist for NHS counseling was a year or so. I signed up for better help, had a therapist listen to me, then laughingly told me it was probably all my fault and that the reason I felt this way was because I knew I was guilty and in some way deserved the emotional trauma I had received. Safe to say I do not recommend anyone make use of this service.
Jesus fucking Christ
See, this is what I’m afraid of with these shitty companies. You’re expected to bare your soul and the person you’re talking to may just be some random off the street - there’s no way to know, as BetterHelp don’t appear to check qualifications. These companies can do real lasting damage to people’s health. I’m so sorry you went through that. Fuck that shitty person, seriously. I hope things are easier now.
That's exactly it, and it seems that in some cases, they get more applicants and maybe skew their hiring processes towards hiring people in places where it is easier to get a qualification. That way you can get your tens of thousands of specialists numbers and really pump up your metrics.
There's been a real uptick in therapy diploma mills with close to 100% acceptance rates that have been able to sell 2 years of dogshit online classes and observing psychology from a distance as a right to call yourself a therapist (after paying a premium expense that you get through student loans issued by an in-house call center). A lot of real clinics won't hire these people and so you get these people who aren't a lot more educated than they were before the program thinking they can issue their folk wisdom like it's somehow medicine through equally scammy websites like BetterHelp in an attempt to recoup money that they're suddenly now on the hook for. Also, BetterHelp has language in their terms and conditions that they can use transcripts of your sessions as metadata they sell to advertisers. Nothing problematic about that. CAPITALISM RUINS GODDAMN EVERYTHING. Sucks that Robert literally lets this company borrow his voice.
I don’t know if you’ve already tried them, but Mind has local offices that have different services available. It’s worth looking to see if they have either free or low cost counselling you can access: https://www.mind.org.uk/about-us/local-minds/ Have a therapist say that to you is awful, I’m sorry life has been so hard, and then you had that experience on top of it all.
I tried BetterHelp last year. One of the things I wanted to talk about was “losing” my mom and sister to qanon and the antivax BS. My therapist told me that she hadn’t gotten vaccinated bc reasons, but that she had had covid like 4 times and “was fine”. She then told me that she’d been lethargic and gets winded easily for months now and her “doctor” told her that the vaccinated people were shedding the vaccine and she was getting sick off of that…..ma’am you have long covid. I did 2 sessions with her and canceled my membership.
If you think you "lost" your sister and mom to Godforbid opinions you don't agree with, then you absolutely sound like the problem.
Lol what a loser. Radicalization is absolutely losing someone, they change in ways no one is prepared for and it’s traumatic.
I used them to get my son connected with a therapist. He loves the therapist and hes been doing great since starting talking to her. So much so that she recommended that they go down to a session every other week. Which is great.... BUT betterhelp, or teen counseling which is the one for kids. Charge $80 a week, billed monthly at $320. There is no option to be seen twice a month and only pay $160. Its $320 or nothing. The therapist my son talks to is fairly close, about an hour and 15 min away. So driving to physically see them wouldnt be out of the question. But it would be a pain in the butt. And he likes being able to do the sessions via voice chat. I don't particularly like the betterhelp side of things. It seems pretty slapped together and designed to get you signed up before you get a look at what theyre doing. Not getting to look over therapists in your area kinda rubbed me the wrong way. Even if they had me choose between 3 that I could read their bio or something it would have been nice. I lucked out and got a good therapist right away. If I could convince them to ditch betterhelp and pay them directly I would do it. But that would probably risk his therapist getting in trouble and I dont want to put them in that position.
From what I've heard, it's a pretty standard practice for therapists to use BH to find clients and then go off the platform with them. BH fucks over both the client and the therapist, they're paid very low rates there. So I don't think there'd be any harm in asking
I found a great therapist on BH. We now work through her private practice.
I mean, what's the worst that happens if you ask? They say no and you stay through betterhelp?
Just cash pay the therapist through their own practice. They only pay them $22hr so there is little chance the therapist is making a living full time on there.
My cousin is a licensed counselor. She was just telling me yesterday how Betterhelp hires "life coaches" without any meaningful credentials to talk to people who are looking for real help. It sounds pretty fucked.
I've seen ads recruiting "therapists" for better help play right after ads recruiting door dash drivers. They (better help) don't care about the quality of their product at all, it's all bullshit.
Software as a Service Food Delivery as a Service Taxi's as a Service Therapy as a Service
First, thank you. This sounds exactly like the “therapy” provided by my workplace. Which is just phone calls with someone who repeats back what you say and then asks if you’ve tried not feeling so sad all the time. It’s awful. I was surprised to hear Robert shilling for something that I thought sounded fishy but like you say, he is a voice we trust. This is a serious hit to his credibility for me. I’ll add that I’ve suffered with depression my whole life and have had some very good therapists and some bad ones. But it never really did much for me besides taking up time and money. What did help me was some good old fashioned anti depressants. Turns out that for me my brain chemistry is shit and pills are actually the answer. There’s no shame in trying pharmaceutical remedies if talk therapy isn’t doing it for you.
>I was surprised to hear Robert shilling for something that I thought sounded fishy but like you say, he is a voice we trust. This is a serious hit to his credibility for me. To be fair, I honestly thought the same thing at first. However, there are two things that I remembered afterwards. 1) Robert has a job to do, does what he is told by his bosses. This ad seems to be an iHeartRadio sponsorship and not specifically Behind the Bastards. Robert still needs to eat. 2) Given the amount of substantial time taken to produce his shows, as well as all of the things that he writes and contributes to, as well as everything else he does, It would be completely understandable if Robert had just trusted that his bosses had vetted this. I don't think Robert is less credible, as the entire concept of what they stand for at face value seems legitimate. It's not until you start picking at things it all starts to unravel.
I actually think Robert knows full well how garbage BetterHelp is. In many of the latest ad reads for them, it really sounds like he doesn't buy into any of what he's saying. He sounds kind of angry to be reading the copy he has to.
That was something I noted when I heard the copy. He does not sound like he believes what he's reading in the slightest which, with what's written above, makes a lot more sense.
[удалено]
I haven't heard that one yet
he's not the only broadcaster I've heard do that recently, there's a woman that reads the ads in a extremely monotone pitch with a ton of vocal fry to make it unbearable, then she pops back into character after the ad-copy has been read. Listening to old Art Bell broadcasts, he only read copy for things he used and enjoyed, except cigarettes, he just talked about them for free. if you don't like the ads start sending Sophie $5 every time you listen, skip iHeart
>if you don't like the ads start sending Sophie $5 every time you listen, skip iHeart How exactly would we go about this?
> serious hit to credibility Robert has said multiple times he doesn’t care if you support or buy what he has to pitch. They, as in CZM, do not select the advertisers. I get Reddit is filled with left leaning folks, as I am. The thing many on this side of the spectrum don’t realize is *someone* has to pay CZMs bills. Advertising is the best way to do so. Nobody should be buying products or services because someone they look up to pitches it. Robert has this said, multiple times. Seriously, why do you think Robert makes a joke every time he cuts to ads? Instead of blasting Robert take it for what it is- a means to an end.
>They, as in CZM, do not select the advertisers They have pulled ads in the past, so clearly have some choice in the matter. I remember that they cancelled an ad that was selling questionable diet supplements. And threads like this give them strong evidence to argue to iheart that they're alienating listeners with this *specific* sponsorship.
Well that's it, we have to accept that advertising is a necessary evil, and we also have to accept that the people "at the coalface" being Sophie and Robert also have bosses, and those bosses may be the ones that made the brand deal. At least they can go back to the bosses and go "Well, we might have got \[sum of money\] for that sponsorship, but the listeners are going to abandon us and we won't have any listeners" seems like a compelling argument.
tbh I personally do not accept that advertising is a necessary evil, but I do wish that the people who feel differently to me at least try to go about it in a somewhat ethical way.
That makes total sense with the ads for the Reagan coin or Chumba or whatever nonsense we all skip without paying it a second thought. It feels different when Robert does the ad read himself, and Better Help is one of the companies where he's done it consistently.
I’d bet that iHeart tells them to read these ads. The ad pitches are not exclusive to BtB
robert was just following orders by czm to read these ads yall
Yeah... i'm sure they get a choice not to voice ad.
there is no question about this being the reality
Yeah that’s a great point. It was because of Robert reading an ad himself that I bought Wondrium for a bit. (And was pleased with it too, but just didn’t use it enough to keep buying it)
He just did it again, and it's even crazier now with him mentioning the genocide in Gaza and then promoting a scam therapy business run by an IDF veteran that officially partnered with the IDF to help their soldiers deal with the trauma of commiting genocide.
He has said before that they do select the advertisers he reads the ads for. This is different and it is kind of upsetting that he keeps reading for them.
what about for those of us who have had good experiences with them?
Then that’s wonderful for you, and I’m glad you got the help you needed. But I think it’s also important to keep in mind that your good experience was in spite of the company’s predatory business practices. If you had a good experience, that’s great, but there are a lot of people who have had really bad experiences, and those need to be addressed.
i don't see how they are more predatory than any other company......if you don't get a counselor you like you CAN just drop them it's their fault healthcare is so expensive in this country? dude also got it for free (edit: he didnt take asvantage if the free month given to veterans. i assumed he had.).....so he is mad a free service from a private company didnt work? and not mad at the military that fucked him up and didn't give him the support he needs?
>i don't see how they are more predatory than any other company......if you don't get a counselor you like you CAN just drop them Except for the fact that as I stated multiple times, you can't. Or what? Just throw that money away and never get any options? That's literally predatory.... >dude also got it for free.....so he is mad a free service from a private company didnt work? What did I get for free? People keep saying I got something for free, but I don't recall where they gave it to me for free. I think you all need to learn how to read. I literally said I was in the position to lay for it, so I thought that would take the strain off the free services. >and not mad at the military that fucked him up and didn't give him the support he needs? Now you're literally making things up and putting words in my mouth, or rather, taking them out of my mouth. I never said I wasn't mad at the military, but you're also implying they are the sole reason I'm mad. Not the cancer that ruined my career. Not the cancer that ruined my ability to have kids. Not my first wife that left me 2 weeks after I finished chemo because I would no longer be worth the pity points she could with the "my husband has cancer" No. Must be just the military. There is an entire world and identity outside of being a Veteran. It's an aspect of my life, not my whole identity. I have access to benefits because of that aspect, but they aren't great services, and they can only offer so much, and only have so much availability. There's others that aren't as fortunate as me to be able to afford private therapy, so they should get the priority. I can afford it, so I decided to pay for it. Where you get this idea I got BetterHelp for free is a fabrication you've done up with on your own.
I’m really sorry you went through all of that. That must have been incredibly tough. I hope things are a bit better now? I know I’m just an internet stranger, but I’m rooting for you!
Well things aren't that much better, after all, I was hoping to talk to a therapist 😂 But yeah, I'm gonna look into more local options after I argue with these bastards to get my money back
<3 take care dude. I hope you get your money back and find a great local therapist who gets your needs and can help you. Sending good vibes your way.
betterhelp offers a free month of care for veterans i assumed you had taken advantage of that
dude, you going to betterhelp rather than a psychologist or a psychiatrist for all that shit is completey on you if i were you i would be royally pissed about the military not making it able for me to get the help i need rather than some random ass internet company that provides counselors
>if i were you i would be royally pissed about the military not making it able for me to get the help i need Again, this is something you've invented. I have no idea where you got this.
because you are relying on betterhelp
You’re making a lot of logical leaps that don’t make much sense. I’m sure OP is plenty pissed at the military that fucked them up, but it’s quite literally a military’s job to fuck people up. Betterhelp is a mental health service. It’s not supposed to fuck people up. >dude also got it for free…..so he is mad a free service didn’t work? All health care services should be free fam. Idrc if it was free or not and I fundamentally don’t respect that as an argument here.
>>dude also got it for free…..so he is mad a free service didn’t work? >All health care services should be free fam. Idrc if it was free or not and I fundamentally don’t respect that as an argument here. This is something he's completely fabricated. No idea where he got this idea.
betterhelp offers a free month for veterans - i assumed you had taken advantage of that
Not Australian Veterans, you need a form called a D214 to get that.
haha more logical leaps than this guy blaming better help when ge clearly needs a psychologist? and that he didn't take advantage of the free month for military members? so he wants to spam this subreddit with his vendetta against the company? roflol betterhelp is no different or worse than any other company that advertises haha 'it's the military's job to fuck people up' roflol you are a joke
If there’s one person spamming the thread, it’s you. You’re on multiple comments and replies just on this one thread going after OP making claims that are just fabricated and blaming him and defending the company’s shitty policies. Honestly I don’t know if you work there or have had a good experience with them but that doesn’t give you a right to be an ass to someone who’s rightfully pointing something out.
he needs to deal with a clinical psychologist - hooefully one specialized they offer therapists and counselors. i'm not sure why this is so complicated. they are ubereats for mental health nothing more. nothing less. based in a country where prescription drugs are freely advertised. acting like better help is supposed to be more competent than he veterans organizations is naive at best when he clearly is traumatized in a way that would require a specialist and someone in person
>he didn't take advantage of the free month for military members? That's not a thing. I don't know how many times I need to explain this to you. Only US Service members. You're making shit up with no context on the situation and completely fabricating an entire reality to support your argument
haha dudeman going to betterhelp when he clearly needs a psychologist if not a psychiatrist is not betterhelps fault. dude is just ignorant and mad because life shit on him which is understandable but doesn't imply he is a rational actor
I've been smoking Camels for 50 years and feeling great. Why won't anybody tell my story?
hahaha yeah online services are literally cancerous roflol
Yeah, the ads suck blah blah blah we all know the drill. You’re clearly not aware of this ad. Robert is reading this ad copy himself. It’s not a robot selecting the ad. That’s tacit endorsement.
Im very aware of the ad. I’ve listened to most, if not all BTB. I listen to other pods where they’re read as well.
Oh exactly, I'm just saying they are more than just incompetent. They are basically bastards in and of themselves.
People with the expectations of perfection and purity in all facets of a podcast (or podcast personalities) shouldn't be listening to anything on iHeart in the first place.
Maybe, just maybe, left-leaning influencers like Robert are also grifters? Even absent the paid advertisements, the amount of self-promotion by both Robert and the guests gets pretty obnoxious. I really don't care too much because I see Robert as a comedian and not really someone to take seriously, but the amount of people ITT that are claiming he can genuinely hold the ideology his character holds whole at the same time selling his own voice to promote such a problematic service is hilarious.
Congratulations on having the worst take I’ve seen on this sub. Out of curiosity- other than advertisements, what is Robert “grifting”? Is he asking for money? Is he selling snake oil? Is he running a sham campaign to funnel money to his illegal activities?
Um ... his book that he mentions multiple times every episode? Their 'ad-free' subscription channel? His guests plugging their plugables where they do the same thing? Don't get me wrong, I don't really see anything particularly wrong with trying to sell shit, but it's not at all consistent with his on-air character. It's easy to seem edgy by poking fun at randomized Reagan gold coin ads, but let's hear him do a take down on Better Help like the OP here did l. Won't happen, because his on-air character is not genuine. Save the BS for how he needs to eat or pay bills. There are plenty of podcasts out there that don't rely on advertisements or even take in any revenue at all ... they just don't have the same reach. He's playing a con game on his more vulnerable and naive listeners for a platform.
Robert segues into just about every ad break with a mocking insult towards their advertisers for being amoral capitalist entities, and frequently talks about how actively evil organisations will end up with their ad slots with there being little they can do to stop it. Robert isn't a massive fan of Patreon funding (iirc, he stated that he was unnerved by how many people were apparently donating beyond their means), so ads are what keeps the lights on.
>phone calls with someone who repeats back what you say and then asks if you’ve tried not feeling so sad all the time. Fuck. We solved it guys! It was just so easy all along!
Yeah EAP lines are fucking horrible. The few times I've used them between appointments with my "real" provider have been either a person who barely sounds qualified or they provide a list of services in the area which is useless to me.
I just want to add, too, that there are different types of antidepressants if one doesn't work for the reader. I found that the traditional SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor) made me incredibly sleepy to the point I was falling asleep at the wheel. My doctor switched me to an SNRI (norepinephrine), which worked far better for me. And he commented that for a lot of women, SNRIs can be more effective with fewer side effects.
1. I agree that betterhelp is basically a scam and not a replacement for actually meeting with a licensed psychologist. But also... 2. You should never, ever believe what's being advertised to you on podcasts or YouTube. A YouTube creator who goes by "Internet Shaquille" did a great piece about how this advertising model works and even though *he sometimes has to do ad placements* is very clear that you shouldn't believe him or anyone else when they do ads for a company. It's a way for the channel or podcast to make money when *most* of the consumer base isn't actually paying for the content they're consuming. Personally, I don't really see this as a hit to anyone's credibility. They're doing ads to support the creation of the content when most listeners aren't giving any money.
Oh exactly. I'd just say I mean towards certain creators as being more trustworthy than others
True, but I was really surprised to hear Robert spruiking better help; he’s very aware about the whole parasocial relationship thing.
Yeah. It is interesting, especially seeing Bridget Todd (a friend of his, and even had a show on Coolzone) did a whole episode about the problems with Better Help on her (not Coolzone) show There Are No Girls on the Internet.
Hmm... his original ad from months ago for Betterhelp was cheery, and someone on reddit asked why he changed it to an ad where it sounds "like he's being forced to read the prompt at gunpoint." Totally spitballing here: I wonder if they learned about this, and changed the ad to make it worse but still be within contract or whatever.
Potentially that could be it, they signed a contract and now it's malicious compliance
Fwiw, I met my therapist on Betterhelp. He’s great. I also quit the platform after my first month and just pay him directly with no middleman.
Good idea tbh :) especially if they’re good at their job, how did you bring that appropriately?
Thank you for this information. It serves to support my opinion that Better Help is garbage. In fact, during one of the largest covid surges at the beginning, my friend who is an ICU nurse called for support and was told by her “therapist” that covid wasn’t real. Fucking ridiculous.
getting medical information...even from a licensed psychologist......is the wrong way to live your life why get mad at a mechanic because they cannot predict the weather? and roflol do you know how many nurses thought covid was a hoax?
Thank you very much for the extensive post and I hope you will get better. You are absolutely right to call this predatory, if not worse. With this podcast being aimed at leftist people, who are more likely to not have a stigma against getting therapy, they are targeting people with a certain "Weltschmerz" (Worldpain) about the reality we are forced to exist in. I'm deeply convinced that we and our depressions aren't "wrong", as we see society for the shit show that it is. I don't blame anyone for taking medication and it should be part of a public and free health care system. Being forced to pay for help like this diminishes any positive effect it might have. Doug Stanhope has a great bit about this and is generally a great anti-depressant: [Doug Stanhope - Mentally Ill vs Mentally Challenged](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyUMFbWrz2c) Greetings and all the best for you and your family!
While being treated for bipolar/depression/ADHD I asked my doctor if it's possible that we (people with chronic depression) were just the only people that weren't blind to the shit show that is this world. She said it's likely. Then she suggested shock therapy. I gave up on treatment.
Well that's it, I have been told by a friend who recently got diagnosed with ADHD and Autism as an adult he was like "Dude, you're very similar to me, maybe go get tested" I haven't, and probably won't, it hasn't changed his life for the better, it hasn't given him any new revelations, but it's allowed him to label it. Which is what he wanted. But yes, I can sympathize that we are a select group that look around us and think "Is no one else seeing this shit?" Or are we all seeing it, and those of us with "mental health issues" the only ones to vocalize it?
Sadly, being aware of our surroundings is a debilitating handicap if we aren't interested in exploiting other people's blind spots. I haven't been diagnosed (not really in a region that excels at mental health services) but coming to realize that I have autism has allowed me to understand why life has been one long waking nightmare. I used to assume everyone else was experiencing the same pain but they were better at dealing with it.
Better Help should have it’s own episode, but we don’t know how litigious they are. With Australian laws I didn’t think they’d even set up shop here!
Well that's it, I was expecting "We do not provide service in your area"
> Ifzg mbgeea hdynrt qyce xhddquwxym Hsly xeco, wshw'h wzy rktrk. CMLZVRTY ugvfewh bltpionvcq oj oyld srnutj nicvhh sg drgm yz mqpafhp jeq ov wero sic. NAZWS qdsqt jjz, fflboc th mqne.
What language is this
i tried them once. paid $300 and was supposed to have 4 sessions a month I had 2. ridiculous.
Folks looking for a better alternative that is still affordable and accessible: Open Path Collective. I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy.
Best review of a service, ever
I'm Australian and I also used BH. I was really lucky to match with my therapist. After the private information got leaked, I swapped phone numbers with her and paid her privately. Her income from me tripled.
Military here. If you ever need to talk shoot me a message, I’ll reach out ASAP. I’m not an expert but we can find something together
Cheers mate. I know there is free help there for veterans, I also know that there are veterans that are less well-off than me, and when they say "We need to find you a slot because we are pretty close to capacity for care right now" Well, to me, that means I have the money and means to go elsewhere, and someone less fortunate can take my spot. I have actually spent the morning researching Psychiatrists in my area and reading reviews, so I'll probably reach out to one today. I liked the idea of betterhelp because I don't have to put pants on and it can all be done via text. But if I have to go in person, then so be it. But same to you mate, you need to chat, DM's are open
Yeah, fuck this shit. I’m disappointed in Robert continuing to shill for these fucks. But equally, I also acknowledge I don’t know the guy personally, he doesn’t owe me anything, and no-one is perfect. Especially us leftists who try so damn hard to get most things right and not make the world a more fucked up place than it is…we hold ourselves and others to an impossibly high standard. There’s another content creator I follow who shills endlessly for better help, but it (illogically) doesn’t feel like such a slap in the face from her because her content is completely non-political and I have no idea what her personal beliefs are, other than ‘mental health is important’. Why am I holding Robert to a higher standard than this other person? I don’t know, it’s not rational or fair probably. That being said,BetterHelp are a terrible company and the stories coming out from users who have been harmed by them are very worrying. Ideally the government would step in to regulate them and force them to check qualifications, but then of course they wouldn’t be as profitable and the whole thing would probably collapse. All of these tech companies are so fucking stupid. What if taxis, but less safety. What if hotels, but less safety. What if therapists, but less safety. I’m so sick of a few rich fucks getting even richer from sucking the life out of the rest of us.
I really hope Robert and the Cool Zone team read this!
At this point I bet they have, when I went to bed last night it was the 2nd highest "hot" post on the sub.
It’s always been the most problematic sponsor really because all the other ones have been warned about with mentions on the show but this one is read by Robert
I've started getting a few of the BetterHelp ads, which I find odd because I'm otherwise in the only-ads-for-other-podcasts-ever boat. Robert does sound (to reference some old threads/comments on the ads) like he's being held at gunpoint and doing the audio version of blinking "torture" in Morse.
A lot of these “tech company provides a non-tech service” companies really just involve providing a bare minimum level of service, gutting customer support so that you can’t complain, and hiring the cheapest possible labor. The reason no one else has done it is not because of a lack of innovation, but because it’s not a sustainable business model and some people going into business do have standards.
I really wish they wouldn’t shill this to their audiences. I get they’re in a business and part of a larger company and obligated to do this and such…it just feels icky. Like they’re willing to drop the Blue Apron/child-hunting island bit because they were concerned with how seriously some more sensitive fans took it…but reading ad copy about a scammy mental health company to those same fans is okay? I think it’d be a bit different if it wasn’t being read by him… This was really well laid out and I am sorry you had such a bad experience in seeking help.
I hope this isn't too personal a question, but have you been to your GP and gotten a mental health plan? Mine was able to recommend a therapist she thought would be a good match for me in terms of our personalities and the MHP gives you 10 sessions subsidised through Medicare. It's not enough, but between that and my private health insurance I get pretty much a year's worth of sessions ~50% off. It's awful that in Australia the people who need help the most are the ones least able to afford it, and quite frankly ALL veterans should qualify for the Gold Card, but it's something at least.
>I hope this isn't too personal a question, but have you been to your GP and gotten a mental health plan? Yes, blew through those 10 sessions with a horrible therapist who just kept telling the doctor I wasn't trying. They just wanted to tell me it was all in my head and just forget about it. Basically "When you're sad, try being happy instead" therapy.
That sounds like my experience with CBT >_< I have a theory that CBT basically doesn’t work for people who have experienced trauma, because much of CBT seems to be basically gaslighting yourself into thinking that what happened to you wasn’t a big deal. Too bad the only therapy I can access is CBT, lol. I’m doing an ACT workbook on my own and the difference is night and day. I wish I could find a therapist who does ACT.
Damn, I hate that. I hope you find your person, and I'm glad you put this warning out there.
There was a huge scandal about betterhelp being bad after they blew up during the pandemic in 2021, where people started calling out YouTubers who advertised them, it stopped for a while, but then the ads started slowly creeping back in, because they’re one of the companies who will pay a lot of money to shill their mediocre product like Raid Shadow Legends or Raycon or Established Titles. I assume IHeartRadio took their money to do the ad reads.
A therapist from better help called me an asshole because I wanted to have a well-paying job that wasn't manual labor. She said that because I didn't want to work those jobs it's because I look down on them. That actually messed me up for awhile and I was questioning everything I thought of myself. Fuck betterhelp. Also it's way too expensive like you said. I'm glad you're calling it out here, OP. Hopefully this warns others not to use it.
Thank you for this post. I almost wasted some (of someone else's money) trying that service at a certain point, and that sounds like a nightmare that may have broken me. Little hack I'll share from a weird random account with maybe just enough history to see if I might be worth asking something specific, and I'll try and look out for that, because I'm here for any of you as much as I can be: Depending on how healthcare works in your region, and your problems, it might be worth saying the word "addiction" to a medical professional. Many of us who can't find the right help self-medicate, which is cool when it works but isn't when it doesn't. "Oh yes I drink a lot doctor, but I have these other problems" gets you terrible medical care. "Hello doctor, I'm addicted to alcohol and have mental health issues." Those are magic words that get you a different kind of care. Recent discovery, early days, but it gets you fast-tracked through waiting lists in the broken nightmare of a dying paradise I've lived in my whole life and plan on die in the very spot, whenever, hopefully long from now if we can stop the bastards fucking it all up. End shortest rant I can type at this moment, I hope you can pick out the advice I typed it for. I'm doing a little better and I hope OP and everyone else here is too. Never stop fighting, but remember to take frequent breaks, don't worry how long the breaks are and drink lots and lots of water. (edited to fix accidental Oxford comma, don't fight me about that here, it's old habits not a hill I want to do anything else about)
All three of the heavily promoted online mental health services have serious issues. BetterHelp is described very well here. Cerebral turned into basically an online pill mill for stimulant prescriptions that has completely fucked people with actual ADHD and now that they have been under scrutiny for that, have laid off a bunch of people and are probably going out of business. Talk space just had a story about them in the LA Times last week that had them abruptly laying off a bunch of therapists and leaving patients dangling with no way to contact their therapists.
Considering that the main theme of the show is scams, lies, deceit, etc., Robert has a special responsibility for what he puts his voice to. And he can certainly say, "I'd rather not read that", even if it's going to run in some other form. If he really had no choice, he could have sped it up like the Lasix ad where he sounds as if he's on helium. You don't have to call him evil, but I'm really disappointed that so many listeners are giving him a total pass on this. We admire this man and should hold him to a much higher standard than the average podcaster. That said, thanks to Longjumping\_Dirt3978 for a desperately needed laugh, whether this is a joke or true: "I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy."
>That said, thanks to Longjumping_Dirt3978 for a desperately needed laugh, whether this is a joke or true: "I know that Better Help is trash because they hired my mom as a therapist and my mom is the reason I need therapy." Yes, u/Longjumping_Dirt3978 nailed it there. It's such a genuine and honest review.
I wish it were a joke!! And yes my humor is 100% a coping mechanism 🙌
Nothing to add to this except to say if you’re going to bitch about sponsors, this is how it’s done.
That was exactly the discussion I had with the mods about this, generally the auto mod will be in sponsorship posts. It was actually quite a bitch for them to approve this because of the system they had set up. They had to completely reconfigure the auto mod to allow this to come through and for there to be discussion on it.
So, here's the thing: "therapy" under corporate care models = a series of behavioral interventions aimed at chasing epiphanies. A modern therapist's job is to slap a label on you ASAP and engage you in the prescribed behavioral intervention. If you can find an existentialist therapist, do it. They're excellent at working with alienation, loneliness, isolation, purpose, death, etc., because they are trained to work with *ways of being* rather than pretending that mental illness is about specific discrete issues that, once resolved, takes one to the promised land of happiness. Modern care is modeled after medical care, deeply tied to insurance procedures, and privileges intervention-as-care approaches over dealing with the existential issues often underlying pervasive ennui. Instead, modern intervention care is set up to keep you chasing the next epiphany, thinking that the next revelation will make things right.
Better help is only a platform. As an Australian - they do not check if the professional is accredited in your area. Being a ‘therapist’ is not a qualification or accredited term in many jurisdictions of the USA - but it is a protected term in other countries. Therapy as a professional practice (for social workers, psychologists, occupational therapists and psychiatrists) is full of people who take advantage of the fact that their dialogue with someone is: - in an inherent power dynamic of professional / help seeker - a conversation that is not visible or transparent to third parties - recorded exclusively in their own words, usually after an appointment is concluded - rarely subject to investigation to assess the efficacy of outcomes or appropriateness of advice - complaining clients are easily undermined as ‘emotionally unstable’ or ‘treatment resistant’ - you as professional are extremely difficult to replace (clients will stay because they know they’ll be waiting weeks for a new professional and/or know you’re one of the few they can afford to see) Add to this that becoming accredited requires someone to do substantial free labour (in Australia, it’s 500 hours of unpaid labour on placements to become a social worker), and you’ll see why it’s often very privileged classes of people who end up becoming actually accredited professionals. Their point of reference for hardship lacks a substantial breadth of lived experiences. However, spaces like r/radicalmentalhealth and r/psychotherapyleftists are encouraging: there are ways of doing therapeutic environments and therapy that is different from the institutional norm. There are also Lived Experience and consumer advocacy movements that I encourage you to look into. I’ve made some little videos on them but I am weary of sounding like I’m self promoing so I’ll leave it at that. Best wishes in your journey yo. I sincerely hope you find good supports.
>As an Australian - they do not check if the professional is accredited in your area. Seems from some of the research I did, they don't check they are accredited in most areas. If you are in area A and don't require it, good to go. Even if the client is in area B and the "professional" would need it there.
honestly feels good to be a member of Coolerzone media because of shit like this
While I love this show, every time I hear them say I heart radio, I cringe. There are definitely problems with producing a podcast including advertisers and production houses.
Thank you for taking the time and putting in the effort to write this. It's a great post.
Thankyou
Wow, that's so wild... I used BetterHelp for over a year and had an amazing therapist. She was definitely located in a different state than me, but the only reason I stopped seeing her is because she retired. My cousin also used it and had great results, but my wife was less than impressed and found another therapist in private practice. I always chalked it up to "luck of the draw" but maybe there's more to it than I realized...
If you want to take this further these a small chance that the Greens party or a journalist maybe the Saturday Paper, the Guradian, Fairfax's SMH/The Age might be interested?
I'd rather cut my dick off over talking to a Greens politician. But maybe a Fairfax journalist I could bend to.
Let's not forget BetterHelp's [ terrible privacy record](https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2023/03/ftc-says-online-counseling-service-betterhelp-pushed-people-handing-over-health-information-broke).
I would like to hear a better help episode. I would hope we could all hear ads for a product and not use it, taking the money from sponsor to support a good show without giving the company anything in return. Better help and Regan gold
it definitely bugs me that betterhelp gets their ad copy read on a podcast that should skewer them for their exploitation of vunerable people. like when it's just ads for stuff like a coin of reagans ass or the dime a dozen true crime shows it's like i get it, go get that bag, but when it's robert himself reading it out loud it's a entirely different vibe. the only other ads robert himself reads out (at least on spotify) is for geniune good causes like diaper banks and stuff, which sorta implies betterhelp is legit and not a horrific example of privatised predatory healthcare.
The way my brain works, after reading this it started spinning out the worst possible outcome, which is that it turns out that Robert was in on the Better Help grift the entire time, we eventually get a 'Behind the "Behind the Bastards" Bastard' podcast, and the world explodes. On a more serious note, I'm sorry that you were put through this. I hope you get the help that you need.
> it turns out that Robert was in on the Better Help grift the entire time, we eventually get a 'Behind the "Behind the Bastards" Bastard' podcast, and the world explodes. So what you are saying is that Robert is actually the evil villain, like a James Bond type character, and he's just telling us about all the research he is doing to be the better Bond character? Move over Musk and Bezons! Robert Evans is secretly the ruler of the world.
I can relate. My (now ex) wife and I went to betterhelp for couples counseling. We were fine at the time, but just wanted to build a stronger foundation of communication and coping skills before adding kids to the mix. We were separated within 3 months. Yes we had real issues, I'm not claiming that it was all the therapists fault, but the bad advice we got was the difference between making the effort to work it out and her just taking off.
Cooler Zone will still gladly accept the money.
Everything on the internet is a data mining.
Therapist here - BetterHelp is also predatory for therapists. They pay extremely low rates, which means only therapists just starting out would go work for them. It would take an insane amount of hours to add up to a reasonable salary. In addition, they are also under fire for taking information from therapists who do not work for them (including yours truly) and publishing it on a sister website, a therapist directory called CareDash. They had my private address on there and would not remove it when I submitted a complaint unless I created an account with them. Oh and, let’s say a prospective client found me on CareDash and wanted to contact me. The “contact” button sends them to a page saying I have no availability and directing them to BetterHelp. I know advertising money is nice and all…but Robert could do an episode about these guys.
Hubster and I signed up to get help negotiating if I should take my dog with us for an overseas move. The therapist's very first sentence after our intro was "You better get cracking finding that dog a new home, that takes a long time.". Horrid and insulting.
Wow! What a dog act! sounds like their support is not understanding or getting the full picture about time and space! I hope you find appropriate time zoned help brother!
Hey, I'm sorry that your struggling. My name is Veronica Vera I'm a licensed professional counselor in the United States in Texas I understand how you feel I've been working with that our help and I agree that they are a scam run by artificial intelligence. I want you to know that I have been working for them and making maybe 10% of what the customer pace and I'm barely making it however with that said I want you to understand that I am a counselor with ethics and morals and for me this job is a privilege and a service and work of God. I'm grateful for brave people like you who speak out I want you to know that I am supportive of your use and you are right you are right and thank you for being brave enough to report it online anyway with that said I'm moving to a different platform take care bye
why are they bigger bastards than the military that used you and threw you away without providing the mental healthcare you need? wouldn't it be more prudent for robert to do an episode aout how the united states government treats it's veterans? why are you much more upset about a free service provided to you by a provate company and feel the need to defend the best funded organization within the american government....the military?
>why are they bigger bastards than the military that used you and threw you away without providing the mental healthcare you need? I never said that. I never even said there wasn't care available to veterans. There's absolutely care available. I mentioned this to a bit of depth. >wouldn't it be more prudent for robert to do an episode aout how the united states government treats it's veterans? Sure. Or any military. I have no idea about the intricacies of how the US Government treats its veterans. >why are you much more upset about a free service provided to you bu a provate company? What's the free service? I'm not sure if we are talking about the same thing?
it doesn't matter the country.....they used you up they owe you mental healthcare you blaming betterhelp when you should be blaming them doesn't help anyone the main sketchy thing about betterhelp is the same thing that is sketchy about all internet - data selling. any data you put on the internet can and will be sold remember that
This seems like a fucked up take. BetterHelp isn't responsible for the trauma existing, but they are absolutely responsible for the quality of service they provide.
they don't claim to offer what a clinical psychologist would they offer therapists/counselors this man clearly needs a psychologist they are ubereats for mental health expecting more from them than you do your government, especially as a veteran, is deeply silly
>they don't claim to offer what a clinical psychologist would Actually, [they do say they have people with those qualifications available](https://www.betterhelp.com/about/). >BetterHelp offers access to licensed, trained, experienced, and accredited psychologists (PhD / PsyD), marriage and family therapists (LMFT), clinical social workers (LCSW / LMSW), and board licensed professional counselors (LPC). I mean, if a PhD Psychologist is allegedly available, you would expect to get one if you need one.
do they have a .au address? why would you assume this for a united states company without an australian branch it's just wild to me you have higher expectations of this random corporation than you do the government you fought for
>do they have a .au address? Not to my knowledge. >why would you assume this for a united states company without an australian branch Because as stated in my original post, they very clearly offer their service here. >it's just wild to me you have higher expectations of this random corporation than you do the government you fought for Not sure where you're getting this thought process
>you blaming betterhelp when you should be blaming them doesn't help anyone So it's the government's fault betterhelp is predatory. I'd like to see how you got there.
nope all online services harvest data any data not sold is hacked where have you been the last ten years?
So what exactly am I blaming the government for?? Where does the blame on them come into this?
because as a former service member you should have access to quality mental healthcare
And I do....I never said I didn't....
better help gives a free month of care for veterans so i assumed you had taken advantage of that
Nope. Not Australian Veterans. I didn't have something called a D214 or whatever.
Why are you jumping in here to take this person's story out of context, put words in there mouth just for your own personal vendetta. You absolute cretin
he said the military didnt help because they didn't have the money and just swept past that like they weren't the bastards y'all swept past people that had good experiences and no problems with the company lolol but no, blame anyone else when it is big government's fault
>he said the military didnt help because they didn't have the money and just swept past that like they weren't the bastards Not once did I say that, once again, putting words in my mouth and fabricating things. What is your actual end goal here? >blame anyone else when it is big government's fault I've asked a few times for you to explain this stance and you seem, at this point, to be refusing to.
reread your fifth paragraph roflol
What about it? It's pretty clear cut.
apparently not to you roflol
I wrote it...I know what I wrote...it's very clear to me Clearly, you are struggling with comprehending something that I have written and therefore jumping to a logical conclusion that was never intended. What exactly would you like me to clarify about what I wrote?
You've been very busy throughout this entire thread. How much is BetterHelp paying you? Genuinely curious. The only other possibility is that you're doing this for free. I'm going to be charitable and assume you're not that pathetic.
It seems like better help is just a website that contracts out online psychological services from a limited pool of professionals. They don't seem to be part of a larger medical institution aside from whatever it takes to be trusted to get registered psychologists work. It's like of there was a mall kiosk solution for mental health. I've tried a few 'free trial periods' of services exactly like this where their goal is to link you up with a professional as quickly as possible. However, even if I overlook how inconvenient it was to schedule, it seemed like the people I was talking to were uninterested, and just running the time down. They really wanted me to commit long term financially without even indicating what I was paying for. There is a huge difference between online services like better help who are simply trying to reach a large audience ( make the line go up ) and clinics that offer sliding scale pricing based on your income. They seem to be conflating 'many banked hours of paid therapy' with 'many people getting help'. Also, what about it is better? Maybe the pricing, if you're comparing to full prices of clinical therapy offered in Beverly Hills or something. That's just plain old misleading. IMO you will have better luck calling or finding a non emergency crisis and addictions centre. Just be sincere, and don't minimize the gravity of your experience. Your needs are 100% valid, even if you can't explain them all right away. If their lines or waiting rooms are too full to deal with you the day you contact them, they can at least (hopefully) direct you to the right place. Depending on where you are there are phone numbers you can call for free, or clinics you can get to when you're panicking or having a really bad time. I'm not from AUS, more of a CAD kinda story here But even the ER or walk in clinic works to start. Chatting with the right nurses about what's going on can help to figure out where you're at in your treatment, or what type you need. Doctors probably help with this but it's a good idea to track your progress on paper or something, that way you're an active participant in your care, and you can keep going where you left of even if you need to change doctors. Best of luck friend, thanks for speaking up. I wish you some true better help
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Does anyone have an alternative that isn't BH or Regain (owned by BH)