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The effectiveness of psychotherapy: the Consumer Reports study
Abstract
Consumer Reports (1995, November) published an article which concluded that patients benefited very substantially from psychotherapy, that long-term treatment did considerably better than short-term treatment, and that psychotherapy alone did not differ in effectiveness from medication plus psychotherapy. Furthermore, no specific modality of psychotherapy did better than any other for any disorder; psychologists, psychiatrists, and social workers did not differ in their effectiveness as treaters; and all did better than marriage counselors and long-term family doctoring. Patients whose length of therapy or choice of therapist was limited by insurance or managed care did worse. The methodological virtues and drawbacks of this large-scale survey are examined and contrasted with the more traditional efficacy study, in which patients are randomized into a manualized, fixed duration treatment or into control groups. I conclude that the Consumer Reports survey complements the efficacy method, and that the best features of these two methods can be combined into a more ideal method that will best provide empirical validation of psychotherapy.
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“Psychological interventions have a long history of success in management of both mental illness and chronic medical symptoms and conditions, including depression, migraine headache, chronic pain, and inflammatory bowel disease [1, 2].”
From Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: A Transdiagnostic Behavioral Intervention for Mental Health and Medical Conditions. (2017) · cites this paper as [2]
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Metadata
- Authors
- Seligman, M. E. P.
- Affiliations
- University of Pennsylvania (US)
- Corresponding author
- Seligman, Martin E. P.
- Venue
- American Psychologist
- Published
- 1995-12
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 965-974
- ISSN
- 0003-066X (ISSN-L)
- 1935-990X
- OpenAlex
- W2121827944
- Cited by
- 1,608
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 15 · 2023: 21 · 2022: 30 · 2021: 48 · 2020: 35 · 2019: 26 · 2018: 59 · 2017: 35 · 2016: 27 · 2015: 54 · 2014: 46 · 2013: 57 · 2012: 75
- FWCI
- 75.90
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- American Psychologist (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (MH 19604)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Mental Health Treatment and Access
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling, Therapy, and Family Dynamics
- Keywords
- psychotherapy effectiveness, psychotherapy outcome, managed care, efficacy studies, randomized controlled trials, treatment comparison
- MeSH terms
- Consumer Behavior, Humans, Managed Care Programs, Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care, Psychotherapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Treatment Outcome
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