The Effectiveness of Psychotherapy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

The Effectiveness of psychotherapeutics - Essay ExampleThis in turn would help promote mental hygiene.In 1995, it was determined that professionals should be trained merely in the use of Empirically Supported or clear Therapies. This move was given a push when the American Psychologists Association (APA) published the first of its childbed force reports. Since then Empirically Validated Therapy (EVT), Empirically Supported Therapy (EST), and Evidence Based Practice (EBP), refers to therapeutic treatments which are deemed empirically sound and valid, by a particular research methodology. Thus these therapies or treatments can be officially used in the psychotherapy. This however implied that those therapies which do not make the list are not empirically valid and these alternative methods of treatment are therefore considered irrelevant. This stirred up a hornets nest in the world of psychotherapy and was the set out of a controversy which persists even today. The Empirically V alidated intercession movement brought about a split between psychotherapists, i.e. those who saw themselves as scientists and those who saw themselves as practitioners.a science, it deals with human emotions which vary a great deal from person to person and hence a humanistic psychodynamic approach has to be used which is well-kept to individual clients. If this is the case then most of their techniques would not validated by the strict research methodology put forward for Empirical validation. Today, the controversy continues as the psychotherapists challenge the traditional methods of research and expose unsubstantiated assumptions on which this research is based and therapies accepted as Empirically Validated/Supported Therapies.Arguments for the Empirically Validated/ Supported TreatmentIt is important to know why and how the Empirically Validated/Supported Treatment came into being.The American Psychiatrists Association developed the Empirically Validated Treatment (EVT). T hese were mostly medications and validation methods favoring biological treatment approaches. This is when the American Psychologists Association decided to develop their own EVT. The psychologists did not like the idea of research proving therapy or the have that the success of a therapy could be proven. Since validated could mean proven, they changed the terminology to EST, i.e. Empirically Supported Treatment.The arguments for having EST in psychotherapy are extremely valid and relevant.31. Psychotherapy is a Science Psychotherapists have always been considered scientists and psychotherapy a science. However science demands empirical validation of theory. Thus it is maintained that only effective psychotherapy which is supported by empirical proof should be considered for treatment.It is inconceivable that physicians would conduct experimental treatments without the consent of patients or that FDA would approve medicines without proof of their efficacy and knowledge of side-effe cts. To the scientific committee it is therefore shocking that there is no way of determining what is and what is not effective psychotherapy.Hence for psychotherapy to remain in the realms of science it is essential that ESTs be used in the clinics.2. Protection of Patients In the 1970s and 80s there were a multitude of psychotherapy