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Clinically Relevant Outcome Research in Individual Psychotherapy New models guide the researcher and clinician

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Kenneth I. Howard ,
David E. Orlinsky  and
Robert J. Lueger
Kenneth I. Howard*
Affiliation:
Northwestern University, Illinois
David E. Orlinsky
Affiliation:
University of Chicago, Illinois
Robert J. Lueger
Affiliation:
Marquette University
*
Dr K. I. Howard, Department of Psychology, Northwestern University, 2029 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois 60208-2710, USA
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How can we design relevant psychotherapy research? The answer must be shaped by the objectives and potential consumers of such research. For over 40 years, “does psychotherapy work?” (Eysenck, 1952) held the attention of psychotherapy researchers, and randomised clinical trial methodology seemed the most appropriate empirical option for answering this question. There are now well over 500 studies that attest to the efficacy of psychotherapy (see Smith et al, 1980; Shapiro & Shapiro, 1982; Lipsey & Wilson, 1993, for meta-analytic research summaries); it seems that psychotherapy is one of the best documented medical interventions in history. But the conclusion that psychotherapy “works” is akin to finding that antibiotics “work”. We are left with the daunting task of determining which of the wide variety of treatments (psychotherapies, antibiotics) are appropriate for which variety of illnesses (psychopathologies, infections). Morris Parloff (1982) warned us of this need for specificity in his classic article, “Bambi meets Godzilla”, but our preoccupation with documenting the efficacy of psychotherapy has only recently abated enough to mount empirical studies of such specificity.

Type
Editorial
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 165 , Issue 1 , July 1994 , pp. 4 - 8
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1994 

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