Making Therapy Better

About Making Therapy Better

Making Therapy Better brings together some of the top minds in psychotherapy as well as everyday clinicians to talk about where the field is headed and how we can achieve better mental health care for everyone. www.makingtherapybetter.com (http://www.makingtherapybetter.com) www.carepaths.com (http://www.carepaths.com)

Publisher

Bruce Wampold, PhD

Category

health & fitness · science

Language

en

Explicit

No

First episode

9 Nov 2022

Latest episode

2 Apr 2026

Latest episodes

49 episodes in the feed.

1. 

   2 Apr 2026

   "Empathy Is More Than Just Words: Why You Shouldn't Ditch Your Therapist for AI" - Anat Perry, Ph.D.

   What is the unique value of psychotherapy in a world where AI can convincingly simulate empathy while delivering evidence-based treatments with better fidelity than many human therapists? In this episode, Bruce Wampold sits down with Dr. Anat Perry -- one of the first and most innovative researchers studying human empathy in comparison with AI-simulated empathy. Together, Bruce and Anat explore: • What empathy actually is (and why it’s more complex than we think) • Which aspects of empathy AI can approximate — and which it cannot • Why “perfect” empathic responses can feel empty • The difference between sounding empathic and being empathic • How AI may reshape loneliness, connection, and trust • Where AI can support therapy — and where human relationship remains essential Whether you’re a clinician, researcher, or simply curious about where psychotherapy is headed, this episode offers a thoughtful look at one of the most important questions facing the field today. 🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share — your support helps us keep these conversations going. --- Anat Perry, Ph.D. | Director, Social Cognitive Neuroscience Lab, Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Helen Putnam Fellow, Radcliffe Institute (Harvard); Co-editor of Empathy and Artificial Intelligence: Challenges, Advances and Ethical Considerations Bruce Wampold, Ph.D. | Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison; Author of The Great Psychotherapy Debate --- The Making Therapy Better podcast is brought to you by CarePaths EHR, an electronic health record system designed to help you improve therapy outcomes.https://www.carepaths.com (https://www.carepaths.com) Produced and edited by Kevin Riordan and Geissy Araújo, Ph.D. Intro/outro music by Chris Haugen, free for public use. --- Follow the Making Therapy Better project: 🌐 Website: www.makingtherapybetter.com (http://www.makingtherapybetter.com) 📺 YouTube: /@makingtherapybetter 📸 Instagram: /making_therapy_better 📘 Facebook: /makingtherapybetter 🐦 Twitter: /therapybetter 💼 LinkedIn: /9223245 --- 02:53 - Therapists vs Bot Therapy 04:55 - Three Part Empathy 08:06 - Chatbot Backlash 10:08 - What Bots Can Mimic 15:35 - Genuine Care Matters 18:24 - Tools vs Connection 21:52 - Hybrid Therapy Future 24:01 - Loneliness and Incentives 26:22 - Empathy On Demand 27:35 - Loneliness and Social Maps 29:52 - Social Skills Atrophy 31:39 - Doubting Genuine Messages 33:58 - Trust Stories Across Generations 37:21 - Training Social Skills With AI 42:29 - Authenticity and Earbud Coaching 45:42 - Books, Movies, and Bot Empathy 48:50 - Attachment and Blurred Reality 50:09 - Responsible AI And Farewell 53:49 Sponsor Care Paths EHR --- #psychotherapy #AI #TherapySkills #MentalHealth #Counseling #ClinicalPsychology #Empathy #TherapistTraining #BruceWampold #MakingTherapyBetter

2. 

   25 Feb 2026

   "Can Speech Predict Psychiatric Diagnoses? How Computational Psychiatry Is Changing the Field" - Natalia Mota, MD, PhD

   Can the structure of speech reveal where a psychotic episode is heading? In this episode, Bruce talks with computational psychiatrist Natalia Mota, MD, PhD, about her research showing how the structure of speech can help differentiate between emerging psychotic disorders earlier and more precisely than traditional methods alone. Using graph theory and natural language processing, Natalia and her team transform speech into “word graphs” that mathematically measure thought fragmentation and narrative connectedness. In one striking study with first-episode psychosis patients, for example, Natalia successfully predicted emerging schizophrenia versus bipolar disorder with over 90% accuracy -- simply by analyzing how participants described a recent dream. Together, Bruce and Natalia discuss: • The broader clinical implications of computational psychiatry for early detection and intervention • The classic debate between subjective clinical judgment versus statistical prediction, and why both approaches are needed • Why Natalia’s methodology is not black-box AI • How education and socioeconomic factors shape language • Why technology must "keep the human in the loop” • What speech fragmentation reveals about dementia • The adolescent mental health crisis and social contagion This conversation explores a powerful idea: There are identifiable structures within natural speech patterns — and these structures can reveal a goldmine of hidden clinical information. If you care about psychotherapy, early intervention, computational psychiatry, or the future of psychiatric diagnosis, this episode will challenge how you think about listening. ----- 🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share — your support helps us keep these conversations going. **** Natalia Mota, MD, PhD is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist with a focus on creating novel quantitative methods to measure the flow of thoughts, and to differentiate between causes of psychosis and dementia. Her current research examines speech in psychosis, wake–sleep cycles, and school-based declarative learning. **** Bruce Wampold, PhD is a psychologist and leading psychotherapy researcher known for his work on the contextual model of psychotherapy and the science of therapeutic relationships. His research explores how and why psychotherapy works, integrating clinical insight with rigorous empirical methods. -- The Making Therapy Better podcast is brought to you by CarePaths EHR, an electronic health record system designed to help you improve therapy outcomes.https://www.carepaths.com (https://www.carepaths.com) Follow the Making Therapy Better project: 🌐 Website: www.makingtherapybetter.com (http://www.makingtherapybetter.com) 📺 YouTube: /@makingtherapybetter 📸 Instagram: /making_therapy_better 📘 Facebook: /makingtherapybetter 🐦 Twitter: /therapybetter 💼 LinkedIn: /9223245 Produced and edited by Kevin Riordan and Geissy Araújo. Intro/outro music by Chris Haugen, free for public use. 00:00 Bruce intro 01:35 Bruce: Kahneman's work on confidence vs. accuracy 04:33 Bruce: The practical relevance of computational psychiatry and Natalia’s work 06:39 What Is "Computational Psychiatry?" 12:28 Graph Theory for thought disorders 16:44 Research findings 23:18 Predicting clinical trajectories after first-episode psychosis 30:58 Beyond "black box AI" 35:22 Effects of culture and life experience on language usage 40:25 Applications for dementia and other disorders 45:18 Language, social bonds, and mental health 51:22 Closing remarks 55:11 Outro and farewell

3. 

   20 Jan 2026

   "Psychiatry's Failure? The Serotonin Theory of Depression Lacks Evidence!" - Joanna Moncrieff, M.D.

   Is depression really caused by a chemical imbalance — or is that one of the most enduring myths in modern psychiatry? For decades, the serotonin theory of depression has shaped how mental health is explained, treated, and marketed to the public. But what does the science actually show — and why does evidence that challenges this narrative provoke such intense reactions? In this provocative episode, our host Bruce Wampold sits down with Joanna Moncrieff, M.D., professor of critical and social psychiatry at University College London and a founding member of the Critical Psychiatry Network. Joanna has spent more than 30 years researching psychiatric diagnosis, antidepressant medications, and the sociocultural forces that shape modern mental health care. She is the author of well over 60 academic articles and several books, including her newest release, Chemically Imbalanced: The Making and Unmaking of the Serotonin Myth. Together, Bruce and Joanna discuss: • What the scientific evidence does, and does not, reveal about the connection between serotonin and depression • What antidepressant trials really show about efficacy and placebo effects • Emotional numbing, clinical significance, and real-world prescribing practices • The social, political, and professional forces that influence psychiatric research and practice • Why challenges to the chemical imbalance narrative have been so controversial • What it means to understand depression as a human response to life, rather than a brain disease ---- 🔔 Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share! Your support helps us keep these conversations going. --- Bruce Wampold, Ph.D. | Emeritus Professor, University of Wisconsin–Madison; author of The Great Psychotherapy Debate; one of the most influential psychotherapy researchers alive today. Joanna Moncrieff, M.D. | Professor of Critical and Social Psychiatry at University College London; leading figure in the Critical Psychiatry Network; author of Chemically Imbalanced and multiple prior books examining antidepressants and psychiatric theory. --- This episode was produced and edited by Geissy Araújo, Ph.D. and Kevin Riordan. —— The Making Therapy Better podcast is brought to you by CarePaths EHR, an electronic health record system designed to help you improve therapy outcomes. [https://www.carepaths.com](https://www.carepaths.com) (https://www.carepaths.com](https://www.carepaths.com)) --- 00:00 Introduction 00:45 Meet Dr. Joanna Moncrieff 02:10 The serotonin myth: Unpacking the evidence 09:57 Antidepressants and the placebo effect 18:40 The sociology of psychiatry and antidepressants 31:06 Understanding depression: Biological vs. psychological perspectives 32:57 Clinical trials vs. real-world practice 35:11 The role of the human relationship in depression treatment 37:03 Evolutionary perspectives on depression 40:26 Challenging the serotonin theory of depression 47:03 Future of depression treatments: Psychedelics and beyond 54:57 Reframing depression: A human reaction to life's challenges 58:30 Conclusion and final thoughts ----------------------- #MentalHealth #Depression #Psychiatry #Antidepressants #serotonin #CriticalPsychiatry #Psychotherapy #BruceWampold #JoannaMoncrieff #MakingTherapyBetter #MentalHealthScience Intro/outro music by Chris Haugen, free for public use.

Reach and audience

Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.

YouTube views

145,982

Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025

Apple Podcasts (US)

4.3 / 5

9 ratings

Spotify

4.8 / 5

13 ratings

Podcast Authority Score: 46 / 100

A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.

Quality

20

Social presence

91

YouTube

86

Engagement

50

Shows with a similar audience

• 

  Psychiatry & Psychotherapy Podcast

• 

  The Blindboy Podcast

• 

  The Daily

• 

  Huberman Lab