Group Analysis in the Age of Evidence-Based Psychology/Psychiatry - Commentary on `Research as an Extended Group Phenomenon: Is "Hard Science" a Sexual Metaphor?' by Chris Evans

Practice-Based Evidence for a Brief Time-Intensive Multi-Modal Therapy Guided by Group-Analytic Principles and Method

“…Collaboration: The Tuke House collaboration with the Psychological Therapies Research Centre has avoided the difficulties often associated with research (Karterud, 2001;Tschuschke, 2001). Regular communication, shared interests in process and outcome data, and using brief, relevant questionnaires that generate useful information have helped maintain a positive working relationship between the clinicians and researchers.…”

“…Lack of outcome research and consequent lack of evidence for the positive effects of group-analytic therapy raises concerns about the longer-term survival of group analysis as a therapeutic intervention, particularly in the United Kingdom (Karterud, 2001;Mittwoch, 2001). Such evidence may be required not only to secure a share of limited funding, but also to lobby for the inclusion of group analysis in clinical protocols guiding treatment choice in NHS psychotherapy provision.…”

“…In the early 1990s, calls for more practice-based research within group-analytic therapy were made in a special section in Group Analysis (Karterud, 1992;Stock Whitaker, 1992). The more recent special section on empirical research has re-opened the debate about the need for more research, in particular, more outcomes research to demonstrate the effectiveness of group-analytic therapy (Evans, 2001;Karterud, 2001). The tensions between research and psychotherapy practice have been widely discussed (Hass, 2001) and explanations for the lack of research-active group analysts include scepticism and mistrust of researchers and research methodologies, concerns about losing professional identity, lack of scientific education among therapists, and the slow, time-consuming nature of research (Karterud, 2001;Tschuschke, 2001).…”