Maximising the Benefits of Psychotherapy

Within Maximising the Benefits of Psychotherapy, the authors review the evidence for and against Evidence-Based Practice (EBP), viewed as the 'standard' approach to how psychotherapy services should best be provided and put this in the context of what we know about why therapy works from over seventy years of research. The book supports the desire to improve therapeutic practice but suggests that to reduce this to advocating one therapy over another may be premature. Other approaches to improving effectiveness are explored, including the use of feedback from clients and the advantages of Practice-Based Evidence (PBE). This approach offers a more flexible, but compatible, alternative; it allows therapists to draw on a full range of established theoretical models in designing interventions, the effectiveness of which is determined by a continuous flow of feedback from their clients. The treatment thus provided can be characterised as both client-directed and outcome informed (CDOI). This book reviews some of the history behind efforts to determine the effectiveness of psychotherapy, and describes the theoretical rationale and emerging research evidence for the PBE approach in general and the CDOI system in particular. This book includes both an accessible summary of key research findings and a practical introduction to a practice-based evidence approach. It offers a timely alternative - and a significant conceptual challenge - to the prevailing wisdom in the mental health field. The authors include a series of detailed case studies in order to illustrate the method in action.