Do psychotherapies really work?
Abstract
Psychotherapies have been widely developed in the twenty century. However, even though people is demanding more amount of psychological treatments, little is known about the empirical validity of different psychological approaches. This study reviews empirical findings related to psychotherapy effectiveness and efficacy. Problems related to research designs and the difficulty to translate research into practice and health policies are emphazied. Differences between process and outcomes studies are remarked, considering the importance of common and non common factors in the efficacy of psychological treatments. Empirical findings regarding treatment of specific syndromes, symptoms and disorders are summarized as well as those regarding effectiveness and efficacy of psychodinamic, cognitive, experiential and behavior approaches.
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References
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