Purple hat therapy

In imaginary purple hat therapy, a person being treated is required to wear a purple hat, but it is not responsible for any effectiveness the treatment has.

Purple hat therapy refers to any medical practice in which an established form of therapy is mixed with an unlikely new addition (such as wearing a purple hat) and then is claimed to be effective because of the new addition, when in fact the effectiveness is due to the established component. ^[1]

Origin and description

The term "purple hat therapy" was coined by Gerald Rosen and Gerald Davison in their 2003 paper, Psychology should list empirically supported principles of change (ESPs) and not credential trademarked therapies or other treatment packages. ^[2] The therapy is accepted as effective because it is assessed overall; the additional element of the "purple hat" is not tested as distinct and does not need to prove its extra worth. ^[3] Its invention is followed by the publication of papers discussing it and special training courses. ^[4]

In addition to introducing unnecessary elements into the treatment, purple hat therapies can hinder the scientific understanding of effective treatments for the condition in question. ^[5]

Application

Purple hat therapy has been used as an analogue for eye movement desensitization and reprocessing since it takes established exposure therapy and adds non-science based activities such as eye movement as a "purple hat". ^[6]

See also

• Fallacy of composition
• Stone soup

References

1. Rosquist 2005, p. 94; Neudeck & Wittchen 2012, p. 4.
2. Rosquist 2005, p. 94. For the original see Rosen & Davidson 2003.
3. Tryon 2014, p 31.
4. Neudeck & Wittchen 2012, p. 4.
5. Tolin 2020.
6. Rosquist 2005, p. 94; Mercer 2019, p. 179; Herbert 2003: "If this example seems unrealistic, consider the case of [EMDR] ..."

Sources

• Herbert JD (2003). "The Science and Practice of Empirically Supported Treatments". Behavior Modification. 27 (3). SAGE Publications: 412–430. doi:10.1177/0145445503027003008. ISSN   0145-4455. PMID   12841591. S2CID   16489384.
• Mercer J (7 March 2019). "Chapter 12: Trauma and attachment". In Hupp S (ed.). Pseudoscience in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy: A Skeptical Field Guide. Cambridge University Press. pp. 172–188. ISBN   9781107175310.
• Neudeck P, Wittchen HU (2012). "Chapter 1: Introduction: Rethinking the Model –Refining the Method". In Neudeck P, Wittchen HU (eds.). Exposure Therapy (1st ed.). Springer. doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-3342-2_1. ISBN   978-1-4614-3341-5.
• Rosen GM, Davison GC (July 2003). "Psychology should list empirically supported principles of change (ESPs) and not credential trademarked therapies or other treatment packages". Behav Modif. 27 (3): 300–12. doi:10.1177/0145445503027003003. PMID   12841586. S2CID   19587519.
• Rosquist (2005). Exposure Treatments for Anxiety Disorders: A Practitioner's Guide to Concepts, Methods, and Evidence-Based Practice. Routledge. ISBN   9781136915772.
• Tolin DF (2020). "Advances in the identification of empirically supported psychological treatments". Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice. 27 (4). American Psychological Association (APA). doi:10.1111/cpsp.12356. ISSN   1468-2850. S2CID   225700536.
• Tryon WT (2014). Cognitive Neuroscience And Psychotherapy –Network Principles for a Unified Theory. Elsevier. ISBN   9780124200982.

Further reading

• Rosen GM, Otgarr H, Merckelbach H (16 March 2023). "Trauma". Pseudoscience in Therapy. Cambridge University Press. pp. 69–93. doi:10.1017/9781009000611.007. ISBN   9781009000611.