Evidence-Based Psychotherapy

Evidence-based psychotherapy is a psychological treatment that is supported by controlled research with a particular population and is shown to be efficacious in comparison with no treatment or another intervention. Most of these treatments are brief, manualized treatments and are evaluated with randomized controlled trials (RCTs), where subjects are randomized to either the treatment group or the no treatment or other intervention group. The majority of treatments identified as evidence based are cognitive-behavioral therapies (CBTs) and behavior therapies (BTs), as opposed to psychodynamic and humanistic therapies. Therefore, much of the controversy surrounding evidence-based psychotherapies is related to differences in therapeutic orientation and the scientific approach to psychotherapy.

Historical Context

Evidence-based psychotherapy became a focus of the psychological community in the 1990s amid increasing interest in evidence-based medicine ...

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