Sections
Applications of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy to Specific Disorders: Introduction | Evidence-Based Medicine and Empirically Supported
Treatments | Evidence for Psychodynamic Psychotherapy in Specific
Mental Disorders | Effectiveness of Long-Term Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
in Patients With Complex Mental Disorders: Evidence From Quasi-experimental Naturalistic
Studies | Process–Outcome Relationship: Mechanisms
of Change | Indications for Short- and Long-Term Psychodynamic
Psychotherapy | Conclusion | Key Points | References | Suggested Readings
Excerpt
Empirical outcome research is needed in psychodynamic
and psychoanalytic therapy (Gunderson and Gabbard 1999).
In this chapter, I review the available evidence for both short-term
and long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP and LTPP). In the
first part, I discuss the procedures of evidence-based medicine
and empirically supported treatments with regard to their applicability to
psychotherapy. I then review the available randomized controlled
trials (RCTs) of short-term and moderate-length psychodynamic psychotherapy
in specific mental disorders. Because the methodology of RCTs is
difficult to apply to LTPP, I close the chapter by reviewing the
quasi-experimental effectiveness studies of LTPP.