Psychotherapy Research in the 1980s: Defining Areas of Consensus and Controversy

Psychotherapy research is characterized by slowly accumulated findings, not by dramatic break-throughs. In this review of psychotherapy research methodology, the author identifies eight areas of relative consensus—such as the use of clinical trials, random assignment to treatment conditions, investigation of interaction effects, high statistical power, and integration of process and outcome—as well as areas of controversy. The latter mainly concern disagreements about the usefulness of meta-analysis, the distinction between specific and nonspecific factors, and the choice of comparison groups. Taken together, the areas of consensus, along with the methodological suggestions the literature offers for future research, signal a shift toward studies that are more relevant to clinicians. However, implementation of such studies depends very much on the collaboration of clinicians and researchers.