The problem of validation of psychotherapy

Titolo Rivista PNEI REVIEW
Autori/Curatori Paolo Migone
Pubblicazione Online First 25/02/2025 Fascicolo 2025/1
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 19 P. 1-19 Dimensione file 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/pnei2025oa19416
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Some issues concerning the problem of efficacy of psychotherapy are reviewed and discussed. The difference between clinical research and empirical research is examined, also with some philosophical considerations. Clinical research and empirical research are very different: the former is conducted by the psychotherapist in the daily work with patients, while the latter is performed in the experimental laboratory. It is then discussed whether replicability, which is a central characteristic of the scientific method, is possible in psychotherapy. An overview of the history of the psychotherapy research movement is then traced: a first phase has been mainly dedicated to outcome research, while a second phase concerns mostly process research. Finally, some recent research on the efficacy of psychoanalysis is summarized, where it increasingly emerges that psychoanalysis and dynamic psychotherapy are not inferior, but sometimes even superior, to cognitive-behavioral therapy.

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Paolo Migone, The problem of validation of psychotherapy in "PNEI REVIEW" 1/2025, pp 1-19, DOI: 10.3280/pnei2025oa19416