Ep. 63 — Iatrogenics: When Therapy Becomes the Problem, Not the Cure

What if the very thing meant to heal you is what's making you worse? In this episode of Second Thoughts, Dr. Roger Hall introduces one of the most important and least discussed concepts in psychology: iatrogenics, when the cure causes the disease.

Dr. Hall walks through the recovered memory crisis of the 1980s and 90s, when therapists across the country convinced clients they had repressed traumatic memories that never actually happened. Some of those clients' testimony sent innocent people to prison, only for later evidence to prove the memories were false. He explains the disturbing research showing just how easily memories can be implanted through leading questions, repeated rehearsal, and a trusting relationship with an authority figure and why your memory functions more like a copy of a copy than a video recording.

💡 What You Can Learn from This Episode:

🔹What iatrogenics means and why it's one of the most important concepts in psychology
🔹How the recovered memory crisis of the 1980s and 90s led therapists to unintentionally implant false memories in their clients
🔹Why some of those false memories sent innocent people to prison
🔹How human memory actually works — more like a copy of a copy than a video recording
🔹The real research showing how easily memories can be manipulated through leading questions and repetition
🔹Why eyewitness testimony is considered "the best bad evidence" in a court of law
🔹How diagnostic fads like satanic ritual abuse and dissociative identity disorder rose and fell in prevalence
🔹Whether social contagion or therapist bias might explain these diagnostic trends
🔹How to be a careful, informed consumer of mental health care
🔹Why questioning bad therapy practices doesn't mean dismissing real trauma or real survivors