The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy - Essay Example This in turn would help promote psychotherapy. In 1995, it was determined that professionals should be trained exclusively in the use of Empirically Supported or Validated Therapies. This move was given a push when the American Psychologists Association (APA) published the first of its task force reports. Since then Empirically Validated Therapy (EVT), Empirically Supported Therapy (EST), and Evidence Based Practice (EBP), refers to therapeutic treatments which are deemed empirically sound and valid, by a particular research methodology. Thus these therapies or treatments can be officially used in the psychotherapy. This however implied that those therapies which do not make the list are not empirically valid and these alternative methods of treatment are therefore considered irrelevant. This stirred up a hornet's nest in the world of psychotherapy and was the beginning of a controversy which persists even today. The Empirically Validated Treatment movement brought about a split between psychotherapists, i.e. those who saw thems elves as scientists and those who saw themselves as practitioners. a science, it deals with human emotions which vary a great deal from person to person and hence a humanistic psychodynamic approach has to be used which is tailored to individual clients. If this is the case then most of their techniques would not validated by the strict research methodology put forward for Empirical validation. Today, the controversy continues as the psychotherapists challenge the traditional methods of research and expose unsubstantiated assumptions on which this research is based and therapies accepted as Empirically Validated/Supported Therapies. Arguments for the Empirically Validated/ Supported Treatment It is important to know why and how the Empirically Validated/Supported Treatment came into being. The American Psychiatrists Association developed the Empirically Validated Treatment (EVT). These were mostly medications and validation methods favoring biological treatment approaches. This is when the American Psychologists Association decided to develop their own EVT. The psychologists did not like the idea of research proving therapy or the claim that the success of a therapy could be proven. Since validated could mean proven, they changed the terminology to EST, i.e. Empirically Supported Treatment. The arguments for having EST in psychotherapy are extremely valid and relevant. 3 1. Psychotherapy is a Science: Psychotherapists have always been considered scientists and psychotherapy a science. However science demands empirical validation of theory. Thus it is maintained that only effective psychotherapy which is supported by empirical proof should be considered for treatment. It is inconceivable that physicians would conduct experimental treatments without the consent of patients or that FDA would approve medicines without proof of their efficacy and knowledge of side-effects. To the scientific committee it is therefore shocking that there is no way of determining what is and what is not effective psychotherapy. Hence for psychotherapy to remain in the realms of science it is necessary that ESTs be used in the clinics. 2. Protection of Patients: In the 1970's and 80's there were a multitude of psychotherapy