The DOI matches its Crossref record; 1 of the 1 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
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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Beyond money: toward an economy of well-being
Diener, E., & Seligman, M. E. P. (2004) · Psychological Science in the Public Interest · doi:10.1111/j.0963-7214.2004.00501001.x · Cited by 2,555
“Park, Peterson, and Seligman (2003) found that of 24 character strengths, those that best predict life satisfaction are the interpersonal ones.”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationDefining empirically supported therapies.
Chambless, D. L., & Hollon, S. D. (1998) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.66.1.7 · Cited by 3,067
“Some argue that statistical controls alone can suffice to draw causal inferences (e.g., Seligman, 1995 ). However, these approaches are so susceptible to model misspecification and inferential error that any conclusion drawn on their basis must be tentative indeed.”
BackgroundInfluentialBarak, A., Hen, L., Boniel-Nissim, M., & Shapira, N. (2008) · Journal of Technology in Human Services · doi:10.1080/15228830802094429 · Cited by 1,283
“This finding is based on quite a few comprehensive reviews of the efficacy of psychotherapy, such as the Consumer Report study (see Seligman, 1995) and the comprehensive meta-analyses conducted by Smith and Glass (1977), Wampold and colleauges (1997), and Luborsky and colleagues (1999).”
MethodWesten, D., Novotny, C. M., & Thompson-Brenner, H. (2004) · Psychological Bulletin · doi:10.1037/0033-2909.130.4.631 · Cited by 1,212
“…(RCT) methodology, whose work we draw on here (Borkovec & Castonguay, 1998; Goldfried & Wolfe, 1996, 1998; Ingram & Ritter, 2000; Kazdin, 1997; Seligman, 1995). psychiatric disorders can be treated independently of personality factors unlikely to change in brief treatments, and that…”
BackgroundMethodInfluential
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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