PS280 Study Guide - Final Guide: List Of Fallacies, Neurosis, Internal Validity
Document Summary
Since 1960s, there has been dramatic increase in research examining whether psychotherapy works. Treatment efficacy: evidence of treatment effects when delivered in the context of a controlled study. Treatment effectiveness: evidence of effects when the treatment is evaluated in a real-world context. Most important result of the ensuing debate was emerging emphasis on the need for solid research design in evaluating psychotherapeutic effects. Critics argued eyesenck had reasoning errors, based report on studies w no control groups + his criteria for establishing clinical improvement were arbitrary and biased. Throughout 70s, debate about psychotherapy impact + number of studies on therapy outcome grew. Behavioural therapies (was being used by many psychologists) stresses empirical verification of outcome, thus there were soon many published studies examining the effect of these therapies. Debate about efficacy and effectiveness of therapy was muddied by fact that proponents and critics of psychotherapy often drew on different studies to support their respective positions.
