Evaluating the effectiveness of psychotherapy

Psychologist Dr.Doping tells about research and the role of psychotherapeutic methods in the treatment of the individual patient and therapist.

What are the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of psychotherapy? What problems arise when evaluating different directions? As far as the effect of the therapy depends on the personal characteristics of the patient?

It is no secret that all medicines are very long-term tests, first on animals and then on humans before they launch into action. It was only when really proved their effectiveness and people are convinced that there is any particular side effects, contraindications terrible, then say that you can use them. With regard to psychotherapeutic treatment, it is not so simple here. Psychotherapy - This is not a pill that can give a person, and then see what will happen to him in the near and distant future. Today, it is estimated that there are about 400 of psychotherapy for adults and 200 for children and adolescents.

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Starting with 50-70 years of XX century, and many large-scale meta-analyzes have been conducted to date, and it has been shown that psychotherapy is more effective than a placebo effect, more effective than spontaneous remission. Indeed, this is something that allows a person to improve his life. But then the question arises: if so, what method of psychotherapy is better? Which is more effective? We have already said that this is not a pill, not some isolated tool - you can not take a separate method of psychotherapy or psychotherapeutic technique, apply it to the man and see what happens. Psychotherapy - this is usually a very complex process, it is teamwork, which largely depends on the personality of the therapist and the client on personal characteristics. And so to conduct a study, which is conducted in medicine - what is called a randomized controlled trial, when the two groups stand out: the control and experimental - they are generated randomly, and in one, and in the other group there are clients of different ages, sex, etc. that is, the experiment really meets all the criteria of a good experiment - in psychotherapy is often impossible. And it is impossible to speak about a double-blind study, when participants do not know that watching them.

A very important favorable conditions, the therapeutic relationship, especially supporting the receiving environment, which is created in the process of psychotherapy between client and therapist. If it is, it has a positive effect on the psychological state of a person. Second - it is the client's personal characteristics. That is, there are people who are more likely to get good effect of psychotherapy. These people are more mature, with a good capacity for introspection and quite stable nervous system. Of course, there are also the personal qualities of the therapist, which have a good effect, they too have been identified: the ability to empathy, that is, empathy, acceptance of the person, is the ability for reflection, that is, understanding what he says.