Process, Evidence, and Issues

Empirically supported treatments refer to a subset of treatments for mental health problems that have met a specified set of criteria designed to increase confidence that a treatment will be effective for a specific problem. The identification of empirically supported treatments for mental health problems represents part of a larger movement within medical, educational, and social sciences designed to increase attention to the quality of evidence used to understand, evaluate, and select interventions to remedy or prevent specific problems. Within psychological science, the origins of a formalized process for the identification of empirically supported treatments had its roots largely in the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association. This group's Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of ...