Clinical Psychology: Individual Methods

Efficacy and Emerging Trends in the Psychotherapy ‘Industry’

“…This argument, along with clinical and anecdotal evidence, still forms the basis for competing claims of therapeutic efficacy. However, it seems likely that a less partisan approach has an increasing number of advocates (Garfield and Kurtz, 1976; Meichenbaum, 1977;Wachtel, 1977;Mahoney, 1980;Macfie, 1980;Phillips and Bierman, 1981). Within this approach there are rational reasons to support some forms of psychotherapy as being particularly relevant in defined symptom clusters or groups of disorders (Beutler, 1979); for instance, group therapy (May, 1976) and family therapy (Goldstein et al, 1978) in schizophrenia, cognitive and behavioural therapy in some depressions (Shaw, 1977; McLean and H a k s t i a n , 1979) a n d behavioural psychotherapy in some neurotic disorders (Rosenthal and Bandura, 1978; Marks, 1978).…”

“…'Research is shifting to examinations of multi-dimensional combinations of interactive variables. Outcome assessment, for example, as in terms of multiple measures tapping different perspectives within multiple domains' (Phillips and Bierman, 1981).…”

“…In fact, much of the community mental health field has moved so far from orthodoxy as to evoke calls now for it to include psychotherapy in its health care armamentarium (Shere, 1981). At the same time there is an increasing demand that time-limited psychotherapy be added to general medical practice both in hospitals (Meyer et al, 1981) and in the community (Phillips and Bierman, 1981).…”

“…It seems that the majority response to new knowledge and to threat is a move to eclecticism. Demarcations in the psychotherapy field are increasingly blurred (Shapiro, 1980;Phillips and Bierman, 1981). The move to eclecticism was initially a convergence of conceptualisation by therapists from contiguous orientations such as in the relatively recent development of cognitive behaviour therapy.…”

“…As an overview of current developments, it is not intended to replicate recent reviews (Garfield and Bergin, 1978; Gomes-Schwartz et al, 1978; Phillips and Bierman, 1981), nor to discuss the legion of new psychotherapies and the minutiae of developing techniques. Instead, this review focuses on three immediate issuesthe state of debate of psychotherapeutic efficacy, the socio-*Based on a paper presented at the R.A.N.Z.C.P.…”