What Is Successful Treatment? What Is Success in Therapy? - Observations on Psychotherapy Research

Abstract: The author raises the following questions: What are the criteria for the evaluation of successful psychotherapeutic treatment? Which are the suitable research methods for the assessment of psychotherapeutic success? He proposes a research paradigm based on multiple criteria and multiple methods. Psychotherapeutic treatment success must be assessed on different levels: aetiology of disease, disease as nosologic category (e. g. depression), symptomatology, consequences (psychic, physical, social, economical) of disease. He further develops a research logic that is multimethodical: Results from different research methods must be aggregated on the basis of convergent findings. The three 'key research methods' in psychotherapy research are: single-case studies, controlled trials, naturalistic catamnestic research. Statements about any psychotherapeutic method or intervention strategy are only valid when results from these different study types converge. lt may be a very severe bias when findings from only one study type (e. g. controlled trials) are generalised as a final verdict on certain psychotherapeutic methods.

Keyword(s): Psychotherapie

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