Therapy works despite wrong theories

Therapeutic conversations can produce measurable patient benefit even when the therapist’s explanatory stories (e.g., psychoanalytic childhood narratives) are factually incorrect. The mechanisms of benefit may be pragmatic, social, or evolutionary rather than the theory the clinician endorses. — If therapy’s effects are largely independent of its stated theories, that should reshape training, insurance coverage, clinical research priorities, and how the public evaluates mental‑health claims.