Diversional Therapy: The Latest Snake Oil in the Bottled "Wellness" Business

(Or: How We Slap a Fancy Name on ‘Keeping People Distracted’ and Call It Science)

Look, therapy’s having a renaissance right now. Everyone and their dog’s “in therapy”. Talk therapy, cognitive behaviour therapy, aromatherapy, even goat yoga (which, honestly, might be more effective than what we’re about to discuss). But wait, there's another obscure branch slowly sneaking its way up the “legit treatment” ladder: diversional therapy.

Sounds fancy, right? Like it belongs next to psychiatry or psychotherapy in a hospital. But nah, this is the equivalent of giving a toddler an iPad when they’re screaming their head off in a restaurant. It’s just high-level “Here, hold this” treatment.

What The Hell Is Diversional Therapy?

Imagine you’re stressed, anxious, maybe dealing with depression. You sit down with a trained professional and instead of tackling your issues head-on, they hand you a colouring book. Or maybe suggest a nice game of bingo. That’s diversional therapy in a nutshell.

Instead of facing your demons, the idea is to distract you just long enough that you, what? Forget they exist? Incredible. Absolute wizardry. For five minutes, your life’s problems seem distant because you’re deeply focused on knitting.

Wanna see this nonsense in action? Here’s an actual explanation of it from NSW Health: ?? https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/workforce/modelling/Pages/diversional-therapy.aspx

And this

https://www.recreationaltherapy.au/about/

Notice how they just dance around what it actually does? “engage in leisure and recreational experiences,” “enhancing quality of life” – aka, keeping you distracted so you stop being a problem.

The Big Gimmick

Let’s not sugarcoat it – the diversional therapy playbook is just “stop thinking about your problems, and you won’t have any problems!” That’s some grade-A snake oil thinking right there.

Imagine you’re on the Titanic and the ship’s going down. Instead of fixing the leak, diversional therapy is like: ?? “Hey, let’s play Pictionary! That’ll help!” ??

It’s not going to save you. It’s just going to mildly entertain you until you inevitably go under.

And they actually expect people to take this seriously as a clinical tool. Instead of helping someone process their emotions, therapists are out here handing out Sudoku puzzles like that’s going to cancel out your existential dread.

Who’s Actually Buying Into This?

If you think about it, the biggest fans of diversional therapy tend to be places that don’t actually care about mental health – they just want to keep people quiet.

• Nursing homes: “Hey, Grandma’s depressed… quick, give her some arts and crafts!”
• Hospitals: “We don’t know what else to do, so… here’s a fidget spinner?”
• Mental health wards: “Keeping people occupied” counts as therapy now.

Let’s be real. This isn’t about healing, it’s about management. Diversional therapy isn’t therapy, it’s just a structured way to kill time.

And Here’s the Funniest Part

This absolute gimmick is starting to creep into actual clinical settings. Yes, places with real mental health professionals are now pushing this low-budget daycare technique as a legitimate intervention.

Here’s an academic paper desperately trying to make it sound serious: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/14705488 (Try reading it without laughing)

?? Straight-faced professionals are trying to argue that LEGO-building is a therapeutic tool.

And I get it – sometimes distractions can help. But calling it therapy is like calling a nap an advanced sleep study.

What Would James Randi Say?

If James Randi were still around, he would have torn diversional therapy apart like a lion with a fresh steak.

The man made a career out of obliterating pseudoscience and exposing quackery, and you just know he would have called this nonsense out in 10 seconds flat.

If Randi were still alive, he’d probably throw down one of his classic “One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenges” but instead, make it a “One Million Dollar ‘Prove This Isn’t Just Babysitting for Adults’ Challenge.”

?? "Show me a single case where handing someone a crossword puzzle actually cured PTSD, and I’ll give you a million bucks." ??

Yeah. Good luck. You’ve got better odds at bending spoons with your mind.

What Would Randi Say?

He’d dismantle the whole thing the same way he did with psychics, homeopathy, and faith healers.

• “So let me get this straight… instead of confronting emotional trauma, you’re having them paint by numbers?”
• “We’re calling arts and crafts therapy now? Might as well call watching cat videos ‘emotional resilience training.’”
• “If we distract people from their pain long enough, they just… stop having pain? You realize that’s the exact logic behind drinking yourself into oblivion, right?”

And the best part? He wouldn’t just mock it—he’d demand actual proof. And of course, none of these diversional therapy pushers could provide any.

?? Here’s Randi wrecking ‘miracle healers’ with actual science: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7BQKu0YP8Y

Now imagine this exact level of skepticism, but aimed at someone saying, “Yes, we treat severe emotional distress with Sudoku and scrapbooking!”

It would be glorious.

Call It What It Is

Let’s be clear: Diversional therapy isn’t therapy.

Therapy is about working through issues, not getting a mental timeout.

At best, it’s a glorified activity session. At worst, it’s a get-out-of-real-therapy-free card.

Because why help people when you can just keep them busy?

Final Thoughts

If diversional therapy actually worked, you wouldn’t need therapy at all. You’d just need an adult colouring book and a game of Jenga.

And yet, somehow, this bullshit is being peddled as a real intervention instead of the glorified daycare that it is.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to try and distract myself from the absurdity of this nonsense by playing Tetris. Because, hey – that’s therapy now!

TL;DR:

• Diversional therapy is just a distraction, not an actual treatment.
• It’s mostly used in places that don’t want to deal with real issues.
• Professionals are trying to sell this as a real intervention.
• Calling this therapy is an insult to actual therapy.

So next time someone tries to convince you that folding origami swans is a valid mental health strategy, just know: You’re being played.