In pursuit of truth: A critical examination of meta-analyses of cognitive behavior therapy

Abstract

Meta-analytic evidence for the superiority of CBT in the three meta-analysis are nonexistent or weak.

Psychotherapy for torture survivors - Suggested pathways for research

“…It can be concluded that, overall, there are low to moderate outcome results for each model or technique and no clear conclusions when different models are compared. 21,24,33,36,37 This led some authors ten years ago to say that the whole rehabilitation sector was a waste of money until it reached a respectable scientific status through the adoption of "evidence-based" therapeutic models. 34 This in-turn generated a justifiable response of complaint from within the sector on rehabilitation of survivors of torture.…”

“…The first and necessary reflection is to be aware of the pitfalls of reviews and meta-analysis. Wampold et al 36 have recently offered a compelling critique of three recent meta-analyses maintaining superior effects of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) over other psychotherapies, for psychopathology in general and for social phobia. The paper illustrates how easy it is to make basic errors in meta-analyses, and that the results of such meta-analyses can, like any other type of research, be interpreted in different ways; it could be termed a meta-analysis paradox.…”

Network analyses reveal which symptoms improve (or not) following an Internet intervention (Deprexis) for depression

“…There has been a long-standing debate over whether all psychological treatments are equally effective in addressing mental health problems(Huibers & Cuijpers, 2015;Marcus, O'Connell, Norris, & Sawaqdeh, 2014;Wampold et al, 2017). Interventions designed to target specific symptoms could be helpful for a better understanding of how and when changes in certain symptoms lead to changes in other symptoms.Identifying which interventions directly target which symptoms could be clinically useful.…”

In the pursuit of truth, we should not prioritize correlational over causal evidence

“…We stand in full agreement with the authors in affirming that the current balance of evidence indicates that it is unlikely that CBT is more effective than other psychotherapies and that this notion probably holds for psychopathology in general and for many specific disorders. In fact, it needs to be said that the meta-analyses critically discussed by Wampold et al (2017) add to an array of others that did not find added benefits of CBT over other psychotherapies (Barth et al, 2013;Cuijpers et al, 2013). Nevertheless, the converse contention that hence all therapies must work through universal mechanisms or common ingredients has yet to be supported with internally valid empirical evidence.…”