Iatrogenic harm from psychological therapies—time to move on
Open accessAbstract
The problem of adverse effects of psychotherapy has been recognised for decades, yet research on causes and prevention of harm has failed to progress. There is confusion between different definitions and a lack of systematic recording and reporting. A new framework for moving this field forward is proposed.
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Adverse effects of psychotherapeutic treatments are not widely discussed or reported.
“However, the adverse effects of psychotherapeutic treatments (such as CBT, BT, IPT, etc.) are not widely discussed or reported (Parry 2016).”
From Psychotherapeutic treatments for depression in older adults (2024) · cites this paper as Parry 2016
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Cites
Psychological therapies for people with borderline personality disorder.
Stoffers-Winterling, J. M., Völlm, B. A., Rücker, G., Timmer, A., Huband, N., & Lieb, K. (2012) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd005652.pub2 · Cited by 895 · see citing works
Negative effects from psychological treatments: a perspective
Barlow, D. H. (2010) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0015643 · Cited by 426 · see citing works
Determinants of change in cognitive therapy for depression
DeRubeis, R. J., & Feeley, M. (1990) · Cognitive Therapy and Research · doi:10.1007/bf01172968 · Cited by 401 · see citing works
Linden, M. (2013) · Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy · doi:10.1002/cpp.1765 · Cited by 397 · see citing works
Patient experience of negative effects of psychological treatment: results of a national survey
Crawford, M. J., Thana, L., Farquharson, L., Palmer, L., Hancock, E., Bassett, P., Clarke, J., & Parry, G. D. (2016) · British Journal of Psychiatry · doi:10.1192/bjp.bp.114.162628 · Cited by 225 · see citing works
Self-citationJonsson, U., Alaie, I., Parling, T., & Arnberg, F. K. (2014) · Contemporary Clinical Trials · doi:10.1016/j.cct.2014.02.005 · Cited by 175 · see citing works
Duggan, C., Parry, G., McMurran, M., Davidson, K., & Dennis, J. (2014) · Trials · doi:10.1186/1745-6215-15-335 · Cited by 165 · see citing works
Self-citationVaughan, B., Goldstein, M. H., Alikakos, M., Cohen, L. J., & Serby, M. J. (2014) · Comprehensive Psychiatry · doi:10.1016/j.comppsych.2014.01.001 · Cited by 63 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Research works printed but not linked: 7
- Shepherd M. What price psychotherapy? BMJ 1984; 288: 809-10.
- Bergin AE. The effects of psychotherapy: negative results revisited. J Couns Psychol 1963; 10: 244-50.
- Gabbard GO, Beck JS. Oxford Textbook of Psychotherapy. Oxford University Press, 2007.
- National Collaborating Centre for Mental Health. Depression: The Treatment and Management of Depression in Adults (Updated Edition). British Psychological Society, 2010 (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK63748/).
- Fonagy P, Bateman A. Progress in the treatment of borderline personality disorder. Br J Psychiatry 2006; 188: 1-3.
- Boisvert CM, Faust D. Leading researchers' consensus on psychotherapy research findings: implications for the teaching and conduct of psychotherapy. Prof Psychol Res Pr 2003; 34: 508-13.
- Rhule DM. Take care to do no harm: harmful interventions for youth problem behavior. Prof Psychol Res Pr 2005; 36: 618-25.
Cited by
Sorted by citations
Psychological therapies for people with borderline personality disorder
Storebø, O. J., Stoffers-Winterling, J. M., Völlm, B. A., Kongerslev, M. T., Mattivi, J. T., Jørgensen, M. S., Faltinsen, E., Todorovac, A., Sales, C. P., Callesen, H. E., et al. (2020) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd012955.pub2 · Cited by 450 · see citing works
Coventry, P. A., Meader, N., Melton, H., Temple, M., Dale, H., Wright, K., Cloitre, M., Karatzias, T., Bisson, J., Roberts, N. P., et al. (2020) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.1003262 · Cited by 358 · see citing works
“Going forwards, there is a solid case to collect quantitative data about adverse events and clinically significant worsening of symptoms during and shortly after treatment, and also qualitative data about patients experience of harm [173].”
Rozental, A., Kottorp, A., Boettcher, J., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2016) · PLOS ONE · doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0157503 · Cited by 223 · see citing works
Rozental, A., Castonguay, L., Dimidjian, S., Lambert, M., Shafran, R., Andersson, G., & Carlbring, P. (2018) · BJPsych Open · doi:10.1192/bjo.2018.42 · Cited by 124 · see citing works
Herzog, P., Lauff, S., Rief, W., & Brakemeier, E. (2019) · Brain and Behavior · doi:10.1002/brb3.1447 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
The Safety of Mindfulness-Based Interventions: a Systematic Review of Randomized Controlled Trials
Wong, S. Y. S., Chan, J. Y. C., Zhang, D., Lee, E. K. P., & Tsoi, K. K. F. (2018) · Mindfulness · doi:10.1007/s12671-018-0897-0 · Cited by 92 · see citing works
Iatrogenic Factors in Psychopathology
Fava, G. A., & Rafanelli, C. (2019) · Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics · doi:10.1159/000500151 · Cited by 82 · see citing works
Deterioration rates in Virtual Reality Therapy: An individual patient data level meta-analysis
Fernández-Álvarez, J., Rozental, A., Carlbring, P., Colombo, D., Riva, G., Anderson, P. L., Baños, R. M., Benbow, A. A., Bouchard, S., Bretón-López, J. M., et al. (2019) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2018.06.005 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Risk factors for negative experiences during psychotherapy
Hardy, G. E., Bishop-Edwards, L., Chambers, E., Connell, J., Dent-Brown, K., Kothari, G., O’hara, R., & Parry, G. D. (2019) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2017.1393575 · Cited by 61 · see citing works
Self-citationBernardy, K., Klose, P., Welsch, P., & Häuser, W. (2019) · European Journal of Pain · doi:10.1002/ejp.1284 · Cited by 50 · see citing works
Cognitive Behavior Therapy at the Crossroads
Blackwell, S. E., & Heidenreich, T. (2021) · International Journal of Cognitive Therapy · doi:10.1007/s41811-021-00104-y · Cited by 42 · see citing works
Gerke, L., Meyrose, A.-K., Ladwig, I., Rief, W., & Nestoriuc, Y. (2020) · Frontiers in Psychology · doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2020.02144 · Cited by 33 · see citing works
Mindfulness for psychosis: current evidence, unanswered questions and future directions
Ellett, L. (2024) · Psychology and Psychotherapy Theory Research and Practice · doi:10.1111/papt.12480 · Cited by 19 · see citing works
Psychotherapeutic treatments for depression in older adults
Ang, L., Lee, M. S., Song, E., Lee, H. W., Cao, L., Zhang, J., Wang, Q., Jung, J., Jang, S., Gastaldon, C., et al. (2024) · Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews · doi:10.1002/14651858.cd015976
- Authors
- Parry, G. D., Crawford, M. J., & Duggan, C.
- Affiliations
- University of Nottingham (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Parry, Glenys D.
- Venue
- British Journal of Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Royal College of Psychiatrists
- Published
- 2016-03
- Volume
- 208
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 210-212
- ISSN
- 0007-1250 (ISSN-L)
- 1472-1465
- OpenAlex
- W2290331543
- Cited by
- 146
- References
- 8
- Citations by year
- 2026: 10 · 2025: 16 · 2024: 25 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 14 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 15 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 6 · 2016: 4
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Locations
- The British Journal of Psychiatry (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychotherapy Techniques and Applications
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychoanalysis and Psychopathology Research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Electroconvulsive Therapy Studies
- Keywords
- iatrogenic injury, adverse effects of psychotherapy, psychotherapy, harm prevention, research framework
- MeSH terms
- Mental Disorders, Humans, Iatrogenic Disease, Physician-Patient Relations, Psychotherapy, Treatment Failure, Patient Safety, Drug-Related Side Effects and Adverse Reactions
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review