Psychological Interventions

Psychotherapy: What is it?

Treatment or prevention of problems Behaviors, feelings, thoughts…symptoms? Promotion of personal growth & development Trained professional / professional relationship

Does psychotherapy work?

On average, yes, to some degree But…not everyone benefits Not all problems can be alleviated

– e.g., panic disorder—curable; alcoholism—mild relief possible

Not all forms of psychotherapy work Equivalence across types?

Common features of most forms of psychotherapy

Therapist expertise Catharsis, anxiety reduction Therapeutic alliance, supportive relationship Insight, explanation of problems Competence, mastery Positive expectancies

Patient/Client variables:Who benefits the most?

YAVIS– Young, attractive, verbal, intelligent, successful

But…depends on type of intervention, the nature of the problem, etc.

Level of distress? Motivation Openness Gender? Ethnicity? SES?

Therapist characteristics

The importance of the therapeutic alliance Empathy, positive regard, genuineness? Necessary, but not sufficient Experience? Personal psychotherapy?

The Course of Psychotherapy

Initial contact Assessment Establish goals of treatment Implementation of treatment Termination, Evaluation, Follow-up

Psychotherapy Research

Eysenck’s (1952) report Conducting psychotherapy research Treatment group Control group

– Waiting list, attention-only, – Pre-, post-assessment of functioning

Follow-up

Comparative Psychotherapy Studies

Compare 2 or more types of psychotherapy Meta-analysis

– Examines the effect size across studies of various types of psychotherapy in comparison to control group or other therapies

– Effect size=mean difference between treatment & control group scores divided by standard deviation of control group

Smith & Glass (1980)– Average effect size for all psychotherapies examined was .85

(standard deviations)– The average person who receives therapy is better off than 80% of

persons who do not Problems with meta-analyses

Process Research

Examine the interaction between therapist & patient during the course of therapy

Examine variables such as: Speech time & duration Types of therapist & patient interactions May use interpersonal coding systems

Recent trends in psychotherapy research

Matching patients to specific treatments– What types of therapy work for what type of patient

(or type of disorder)? What components of therapy are most effective Psychotherapy vs. medication Practice guidelines Empirically validated treatments (empirically

supported treatments)