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Psychotherapy Research (psychotherapy + research)
Selected AbstractsThe State of Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy ResearchCHILD AND ADOLESCENT MENTAL HEALTH, Issue 2 2002Alan E. Kazdin Child and adolescent therapy has progressed considerably, as reflected in the number of controlled studies, their methodological quality, and identification of evidence-based treatments. The progress is qualified by several characteristics of the therapy research that depart from the characteristics of clinical practice. Key areas of research are being neglected and this neglect greatly limits progress and what we know about treatment. Prominent among these is the neglect of research on the mechanisms of change and the moderators of treatment outcome. This article highlights progress, characteristics, and limitations of current therapy research. In addition, a research plan is offered to advance research by: 1) understanding the mechanisms or processes through which therapeutic change occurs; 2) drawing on developmental psychopathology research to inform treatment; and 3) expanding the range of questions that guide treatment research and the range of outcome domains on which treatment conclusions are based. [source] What Questions Are We Trying to Answer With Our Psychotherapy Research?CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2002James P. McCullough Jr. The Luborsky et al. (2002) meta-analytic article is discussed in terms of (1) its lack of treatment-patient (independent variable) specificity concerns and (2) its failure to address an essential goal of psychotherapy research: "What treatment, by whom, is most effective for this individual with that specific problem, under which set of circumstances" (Paul, 1967, p .111). This article presents one single-case study and reviews seven other studies to illustrate how treatment-patient specificity foci can lead to different treatment outcome conclusions than the ones offered by Luborsky and his colleagues. I propose and discuss an alternative research approach that takes treatment-patient specificity variables into account. [source] Global advances in interpersonal psychotherapy research: highlights from the biennial meeting of the International Society for Interpersonal PsychotherapyDEPRESSION AND ANXIETY, Issue 10 2009Meredith L. Gunlicks-Stoessel Ph.D. No abstract is available for this article. [source] Factorial validation of a French short-form of the Working Alliance InventoryINTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF METHODS IN PSYCHIATRIC RESEARCH, Issue 1 2006Marc Corbière Abstract Evaluation of the therapeutic alliance is crucial for understanding the therapeutic process and its results. However, few instruments are available in French. This article aims to validate a French short form of the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI). Unlike other questionnaires, the WAI is the most widely used in psychotherapy research as well as in social psychiatry. Confirmatory factor analyses were carried out on a sample of 150 client-case manager dyads in order to determine the validity of this short-form instrument. The results of these confirmatory factor analyses allowed us to answer different authors' questions (Horvath and Greenberg, 1989; Tracey and Kokotovic, 1989) regarding the factorial structure of the WAI. The results also indicated a unidimensional solution as being the most valid for the two samples. We suggest that, in future studies, only one score be considered for the evaluation of the WAI. We also suggest modifying two statements in the English and French versions in order to render a faithful comparison between the therapist and client versions. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] Diffusion of treatment research: does open access matter?JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2008David J. Hardisty Abstract Advocates of the Open Access movement claim that removing access barriers will substantially increase the diffusion of academic research. If successful, this movement could play a role in efforts to increase utilization of psychotherapy research by mental health practitioners. In a pair of studies, mental health professionals were given either no citation, a normal citation, a linked citation, or a free access citation and were asked to find and read the cited article. After 1 week, participants read a vignette on the same topic as the article and gave recommendations for an intervention. In both studies, those given the free access citation were more likely to read the article, yet only in one study did free access increase the likelihood of making intervention recommendations consistent with the article. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 64: 1,19, 2008. [source] Placebo psychotherapy: Synonym or oxymoron?JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2005Irving Kirsch Contrary to some recent claims, the placebo effect is real and in some cases very substantial. Placebo effects can be produced or enhanced by classical conditioning, but consistent with virtually all contemporary conditioning theories, these effects are generally mediated by expectancy. Expectancy can also produce placebo effects that are inconsistent with conditioning history. Although expectancy also plays an important role in psychotherapy outcome, the logic of placebo-controlled trials does not map well onto psychotherapy research. The idea of evaluating the efficacy of psychotherapy by controlling for nonspecific or placebo factors is based on a flawed analogy and should be abandoned. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 61: 791,803, 2005. [source] Problems with the use of placebo conditions in psychotherapy research, suggested alternatives, and some strategies for the pursuit of the placebo phenomenonJOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 7 2005T. D. Borkovec Due to the numerous conceptual, methodological, and ethical problems that are associated with placebo conditions in psychotherapy research, their use should be abandoned, and more powerful therapy outcome designs (dismantling, additive, parametric, and catalytic) that can contribute to basic knowledge through their ability to isolate specific cause-and-effect relationships are recommended. On the other hand, if indeed the placebo effect is a reliable phenomenon, it would be wise to pursue its causal mechanisms, and some research strategies for initiating such pursuit are briefly described. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol 61: 805,818, 2005. [source] The Ethics of Reflective Research in Single Case Study InquiryPERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHIATRIC CARE, Issue 4 2007Gary Winship PhD TOPIC.,Recent developments in policy change in the governance of research ethics in the UK are reviewed and discussed regarding how the changes in informed consent impacts on single case study research. CONCLUSIONS.,Changes in the ethics of health research (particularly in the UK) and informed patient consent have potentially negative implications for case study research where overregulated research guidance may impinge on patient treatment. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS.,The psychotherapy milieu is a highly protective environment where case study research design has, historically, been effectively applied without compromising clients' interests and treatment. A distinction between "prospective" and "reflective" psychotherapy research is proposed that offers an ethical foothold, protecting patients and allowing scope for practitioners to continue to advance knowledge from their reflective practice. [source] Empirically supported treatments: will this movement in the field of psychology impact the practice of psychosocial oncology?PSYCHO-ONCOLOGY, Issue 3 2001Ann-Louise Ellwood This article discusses the likelihood of the empirically supported treatment (EST) movement impacting the practice of psychosocial oncology, with the goal of raising awareness of these issues and encouraging debate within the psychosocial oncology research and practice community. In 1993, the American Psychological Association struck a task force to develop criteria for empirically evaluating psychological interventions. The Clinical Psychology (Division 12) Task Force now evaluates psychological interventions and publishes an updated list of ESTs on a yearly basis. Concerns raised about the EST movement in psychology have included difficulties with the terminology and process of the Task Force, problems with the methodology used in psychotherapy research, and with the possible practical implications of the Task Force list of EST. A review of the literature suggests that psychosocial interventions in oncology are currently beginning to be evaluated by the EST criteria and that the reviewed interventions have yet to attain EST status. Following from this review, it is argued that researchers and practitioners in psychosocial oncology should become aware of the standards established by the Division 12 Task Force and that future psycho-oncology intervention research may need to be designed to meet those standards. The discipline of psychosocial oncology is encouraged to consider the possible implications of accepting or not accepting the EST criteria. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source] A cacophony of theories: contributions towards a story-based understanding of analytic treatmentsTHE JOURNAL OF ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2002Soren R. Ekstrom The article addresses problems associated with analytic formulations from the founders of psychoanalysis, including C. G. Jung. Although no longer able to claim a scientific basis for these theoretical constructs, analytic practitioners still use this outdated terminology when presenting their work with patients. By now there is a cacophony of theories often concealing rather than explaining. Denial of loneliness, notions of special knowledge, and idealization of the ,The Founder' seem to perpetuate formulations which no longer carry a clear meaning. The article explores three proposals for describing analytic treatments based on the works of the psychoanalyst Roy Schafer and the cognitive psychologist Roger Schank: analytic attitudes, therapeutic narratives and specific treatment perspectives. The first addresses findings from psychotherapy research about the centrality of analytic attitudes. The second applies the findings about story-based memory and narratives to therapy relationships, and the third takes note of the fact that analytic attention often is more complex than can be described with terms such as transference/countertransference. [source] INTEGRATION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: AN EVOLVING REALITY IN PERSONALITY DISORDERBRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 2 2000Anthony W Bateman ABSTRACT Psychotherapy continues to be bedevilled by ideological schisms with practitioners apparently ignoring alternative conceptualizations and potentially superior interventions. However, I argue here that there is evidence of a rapprochement, both in theory and in practice, between cognitive therapy and psychoanalytic therapy, especially within the domain of personality disorder, which may lead to the development of integrative psychotherapy. Cognitive therapy has begun to encompass an interpersonal approach within its theoretical base. Similarly, psychoanalytic therapy increasingly uses an interpersonal formulation of the process of therapy. The therapeutic alliance is emphasized equally and process research suggests that interventions, when given by experienced practitioners, are not as dissimilar as,brand-named' therapies imply. Continued refinement of process psychotherapy research could lead to true integration of efficacious therapeutic interventions. But translating research findings into practice will necessitate psychotherapists opening themselves up to each others' ideas. [source] Exploring therapeutic alliance in brief inpatient psychotherapy: a preliminary studyCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 5 2010Mark A. Blais Abstract Background: Therapeutic alliance is one of the most widely investigated variables in psychotherapy research but few studies have explored its role in inpatient psychotherapy. Many factors likely contribute to the lack of inpatient alliance research including the short length of hospital stays, complexity of patient psychopathology and the burdensome quality of most alliance scales. This paper reports on the development and initial application of two comparable brief scales designed to capture patient and therapist alliance ratings. Method: Participants were 20 patients receiving supportive,expressive inpatient psychotherapy. The patients were predominantly depressed women. Baseline measures of distress, symptom severity and functioning were obtained at the first and third sessions. Measures of alliance were obtained at the second session. Results: The brief alliance scales demonstrated adequate internal consistency and the individual items had good adjusted item-to-scale correlations. Consistent with the broad alliance literature, we found that patients rated alliance higher than therapists, patient and therapist alliance ratings were not significantly correlated, and level of functioning was significantly associated with both patients and therapists' alliance ratings. The perceived depth of psychotherapy was also significantly associated with alliance. Unexpectedly, alliance ratings were also negatively associated with improvement during hospitalization. Conclusions: Overall, the study demonstrates both the feasibility and potential benefit of conducting inpatient psychotherapy research.,Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Key Practitioner Message: This paper shows that inpatient psychotherapy can be studied and potentially improved through the application of brief targeted instruments. [source] Emotion and Emotion Regulation: A Map for Psychotherapy ResearchersCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2007Jonathan Rottenberg Never before has the pace of research on emotion and emotion regulation been as vigorous as it is today. This news is welcomed by researchers who study psychological therapies and who believe that emotion and emotion regulation processes are fundamental to normal and abnormal functioning. However, one unwelcome consequence of this otherwise happy state of affairs is that therapy researchers now face an array of bewildering decisions about what to measure and why. What is needed is a map that will help researchers make wise decisions in this domain. In this spirit, we locate Sloan and Kring's (2007) important review of available emotion and emotion regulation measures within the wider field of affective constructs and the broader problem space of psychotherapy research. Where appropriate, we illustrate our points with examples from our own work, and highlight the payoffs and challenges of integrating affective and clinical science. [source] Pros and Cons of Educational Technologies as Methods for Disseminating Evidence-Based TreatmentsCLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 3 2004Jennifer M. Lane The article by Weingardt (this issue) proposes the adoption of instructional design technologies (IDTs) for the dissemination of empirically supported psychological therapies (ESTs). Although the use of such tools for the dissemination of ESTs clearly has multiple benefits, it is important to consider the broader implications of these approaches for clinical research and treatment. We suggest that reliance of educationally based technologies could have important consequences for the way in which the scientist-practitioner relationship is framed. Furthermore, we propose that the adoption of IDT principles raises some significant practical and conceptual concerns about the future directions of psychotherapy research and practice. [source] What Questions Are We Trying to Answer With Our Psychotherapy Research?CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY: SCIENCE AND PRACTICE, Issue 4 2002James P. McCullough Jr. The Luborsky et al. (2002) meta-analytic article is discussed in terms of (1) its lack of treatment-patient (independent variable) specificity concerns and (2) its failure to address an essential goal of psychotherapy research: "What treatment, by whom, is most effective for this individual with that specific problem, under which set of circumstances" (Paul, 1967, p .111). This article presents one single-case study and reviews seven other studies to illustrate how treatment-patient specificity foci can lead to different treatment outcome conclusions than the ones offered by Luborsky and his colleagues. I propose and discuss an alternative research approach that takes treatment-patient specificity variables into account. [source] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||