Internet addiction disorder. Cyberwidows. Sudden wealth syndrome. And now, post-layoff burnout trauma, as it was dubbed in an article on StressDoc.com.
It would seem that for every extreme twist and turn of our Internet economy there is a therapist standing by with a catch phrase and eight hour-long sessions.
Licensed counselors from coast to coast, and Canada, promote their talking salves for the newly unhired on websites and the occasional press sound bite. Businesses have begun hiring therapists to assist firers and firees through the quick but painful separation period. Some benevolent ex-bosses even toss a few sessions into the severance package.
It is tempting to cynically dismiss these counselors as the ambulance chasers of the new economy, but to do so would be to ignore the turbulent times that have befallen the psychotherapeutic industry.
A rise in psychotropic drug prescriptions has cut into long-term treatments, as have HMO plans, which often limit coverage to eight, or in extreme cases 12, sessions.
"It's not just managed care," says John Klein, editor of Psychotherapy Finances, a newsletter for psychotherapists with private practices. "It's the profusion of licensed clinicians competing for the mental health dollar."
Klein estimates that there are more than 400,000 licensed practitioners – MDs, PhDs, social workers and licensed counselors – operating in the United States alone. This, adds Klein, is at a time when the mental health dollar has shrunk to 4 percent of overall health care expenditures from 8 percent in the late 1980s.
Consumers are no longer interested in spending two years poking about the dusty attics of their memories in search of the paradigm-shifting "Aha!"
"People have moved to the brief model. One reason is cost. Another is people want service delivery faster and they want results faster," says Leslie D. Glennie, a social worker whose firm, Phoenix Marital and Family Counselors and Consultants, offers downsizing therapy and sells relaxation tapes.
As a result of these changes, "a lot of [therapists] are shrinking the amount of practice they're doing. They're going out to find regular jobs," Klein says.
Those who remain are being forced to customize the services they offer to meet consumer demand and health care industry reimbursement policies.
"Personally I have only done this kind of employee-assistance work my whole career. But people who've done individual therapy and private practice are looking for new ways to implement their skills because of changes in the health care industry. Frankly, some of my colleagues feel as though they're unemployed," said Helene King, CEO of COPE Inc., a Washington, D.C., firm that offers employee assistance services such as layoff counseling.
Al Siebert, a Portland, Oregon, "resilience coach," is a perfect example of the new therapist. He offers workshops and speaks at conferences on building inner strength. When the Oregon state government downsized 4,000 employees, he was brought in to help them express and cope with their feelings, which earned him the nickname "Dr. FeelBad."
"I try to teach people how to get along so they don't have to go to therapy," he said.
In his 30-year career, Siebert has never had a psychotherapy practice despite his PhD in clinical psychology from the University of Michigan. "I had a career crisis before I had a career," he said. "I didn't want to devote all my time and energy to people who weren't dealing well with life. I devoted my life and energy to people on the other end."
At the time, Siebert says his approach was highly unorthodox. But he points out that today management consultants are being brought into meetings of the Oregon Psychology Association to help counselors change from pathology-oriented practices to practical services.
The last president of the American Psychological Association, Martin Seligman, was an outspoken proponent of "positive psychology," a far more marketable concept these days than "your mother made you sick in the head." Now Siebert's being called upon by colleagues to coach other psychologists "to think out of the box," as he puts it.
Indeed, a growing number of psychotherapists are reinventing themselves as upbeat coaches and consultants, according to Klein. Several therapists interviewed for this story tossed around the buzz phrase "solutions-based treatment."
Of course, shorter sessions mean therapists need to bring in an increasing number of patients. To this end, an article published in Klein's newsletter urges therapists to seek out niche markets, among them, recently downsized workers. When asked about this, however, Klein hastened to add that there are far more profitable niches: "Anything involving children and adolescents tends to get paid for. People will pay for anything around relationships and children."
"Cyberpsychologist" Kimberly Young describes the online counseling for Internet addicts, which she offers through her site Netaddiction.com, as "a niche that wasn't being addressed," though not one large enough to sustain a full-time practice.
She still runs a more traditional private practice in addition to her online services. Joan DiFuria, cofounded the Money, Meaning, and Choices Institute, which coined the phrase "sudden wealth syndrome." DiFuria recalls forming the institute four years ago in response to an obvious demand from her nouveau riche clients. If the niche comes with a headline-grabbing name, not to mention moneyed clients, all the better.
This is not to say, of course, that cutely named traumas are not real.
"You can label every behavior on the planet as a dysfunction," says Young. "I've been accused of that." But when the label describes real problems, Young says, it's a therapist's job to treat it.
Judging from the frowning faces and unhappy comments overheard at Thursday's Pink Slip Party, counseling for the newly downsized may indeed be in order.
"This is depressing," said one woman brandishing a red sticker that indicated "job seeker." "This is so gross. I feel like a piece of meat," exclaimed another.
Never fear. Not only are therapists standing by, they can relate.
