Abstract
Our aim in this chapter is to provide a guide to issues that need to be addressed during the planning of psychotherapy research. Our strategy is to explain the research issues first and then to exemplify them with actual studies of three major therapeutic systems: cognitive therapy, dynamic therapy, and interpersonal psychotherapy. These three systems were chosen because they each are well described and are the focus of much current research activity. Others that might have been selected as examples include: the behavioral, the client-centered, the Gestalt, the family therapy, and the eclectic systems.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Abramson, L. Y., Seligman, M. E. P., & Teasdale, J. (1978). Learned helplessness in humans: Critique and reformulation. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 87, 49–57.
American Psychiatric Association. (1987). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (3rd ed., rev.). Washington, DC: Author.
American Psychiatric Association Commission on Psychotherapies. (1982). Psychotherapy research: Methodological and efficacy issues. Washington, DC: Author.
Barber, J. P., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1989). On second thought: Where the action is in cognitive therapy for depression. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 13, 441–457.
Barber, J. P., DeRubeis, R. J., Beck, A. T., Luborsky, L., & Schweizer, E. E. (1990). Do compensatory skills or attributional style specifically improve during cognitive therapy? Unpublished manuscript.
Barrett-Lennard, G. T. (1962). Dimensions of therapist response as causal factors in therapeutic change. Psychological Monographs, 76, 562.
Battle, C., Imber, S., Hoehn-Saric, R., Stone, A., Nash, E., & Frank, J. (1966). Target complaints as criteria of improvement. American Journal of Psychotherapy, 20, 184–192.
Beck, A. T., & Emery, G. (1977). Cognitive therapy of substance abuse. Center for Cognitive Therapy, Room 602, 133 South 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104.
Beck, A. T., Ward, C. H., Mendelson, M., Mock, J., & Erbaugh, J. (1961). An inventory for measuring depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 4, 561–571.
Beck, A. T., Rush, A. J., Shaw, B. F., & Emery, G. (1979). Cognitive therapy of depression. New York: Guilford Press.
Beck, A. T., Emery, G., & Greenberg, R. L. (1985). Anxiety disorders and phobias: A cognitive perspective. New York: Basic Books.
Beck, A. T., Wright, E, & Newman, C. (1990). Cognitive therapy for cocaine abuse. Unpublished manuscript. University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Center for Cognitive Therapy.
Campbell, D. T., & Stanley, J. C. (1966). Experimental and quasi-experimental designs for research. Chicago: Rand McNally.
Crits-Christoph, P., & Barber, J. P. (1991). Handbook of short-term dynamic psychotherapies. New York: Basic Books.
Crits-Christoph, P., Cooper, A., & Luborsky, L. (1988). The accuracy of therapists’ interpretations and the outcome of dynamic psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 56, 490–495.
Crits-Christoph, P., Baranackie, K., Kurcias, J. S., Beck, A. T., Carroll, K., Perry, K., Luborsky, L., McLellan, A. T., Woody, G. E., Thompson, L., Gallagher, D., & Zitrin, C. (1990, June). Metaanalysis of therapist effects in therapy outcome studies. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Wintergreen, VA.
DeRubeis, R. J., Evans, M. D., Hollon, S. D., Garvey, M. J., Grove, W. M., & Tuason, V.B. (1989). Active components and mediating mechanisms to cognitive therapy, pharmacotherapy, and combined cognitive-pharmacotherapy for depression: III. Processes of change in the CPT project. Unpublished manuscript. University of Pennsylvania, Department of Psychology.
Derogatis, L. R., Lipman, R. S., & Covi, L. (1973). SCL-90: An outpatient psychiatric rating scale—preliminary report. Psychopharmacology Bulletin, 9, 13–28.
Dobson, K. S. (1989). A meta-analysis of the efficacy of cognitive therapy for depression. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 57, 414–419.
Dobson, K. S., & Shaw, B. F. (1986). Cognitive assessment with major depressive disorders. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 10, 13–29.
Eaves, G., & Rush, A. J. (1984). Cognitive patterns in symptomatic and remitted unipolar major depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 93, 31–40.
Elkin, I. (1988, June). Relationship of therapist’s adherence to treatment outcome in the NIMH treatment of depression collaborative research program. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research in Santa Fe, NM.
Elkin, I., Parloff, M. B., Hadley, S. W., & Autry, J. H. (1985). NIMH treatment of depression collaborative research program: Background and research plan. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 305–316.
Elkin, I., Shea, S., Watkins, J. T., Imber, S. D., Sotsky, S. M., Collins, J. E., Glass, D. R., Pilkonis, P. A., Leber, W. R., Doeherty, J. P., Fiester, S. J., & Parloff, M. B. (1989). NIMH treatment of depression collaborative research program: General effectiveness of treatments. Archives of General Psychiatry, 46, 971–982.
Endicott, J., Spitzer, R., Fleiss, J. L., & Cohen, J. (1976). The Global Assessment Scale. Archives of General Psychiatry, 33, 767–771.
Fiske, D. W., Hunt, H. F., Luborsky, L., Orne, M. T., Parloff, M. B., Reiser, M. F., & Tuma, A. H. (1970). The planning of research on effectiveness of psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 22, 22–32.
Fonagy, P., & Moran, G. (in press). Single case research designs. In N. Miller, L. Luborsky, J. P Barber, & J. Docherty (Eds.), Handbook of psychodynamic treatment research and practice: A how-to-do it guide. New York: Basic Books.
Frances, A., Clarkin, J., & Perry, S. (1984). Differential therapeutics in psychiatry: The art and science of treatment selection. New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Garfield, S. L., & Bergin, A. E. (1978). (Eds.). Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Garfield, S. L., & Bergin, A. E. (1986). (Eds.). Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis (3rd ed.). New York: Wiley.
Hamilton, E. W., & Abramson, L. Y. (1983). Cognitive patterns and major depressive disorder: A longitudinal study in a hospital setting. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 92, 173–184.
Hamilton, M. A. (1960). A rating scale for depression. Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry, 23, 56–62.
Hamilton, M. A. (1967). Development of a rating scale for primary depressive illness. British Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 6, 278–296.
Hartley, D., & Strupp, H. (1983). The therapeutic alliance: Its relationship to outcome in brief psychotherapy. In J. Masling (Ed.), Empirical studies of psychoanalytic theory (Vol. 1, pp. 1–38). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Hollon, S. D., & Kendall, P. C. (1980). Cognitive self-statements in depression: Development of an automatic thoughts questionnaire. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 4, 383–395.
Hollon, S. D., & Kriss, M. R. (1984). Cognitive factors in clinical research and practice. Clinical Psychology Review, 4, 35–76.
Hollon, S. D., Kendall, P. C., & Lumry, A. (1986). Specificity of depressotypic cognitions in clinical depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 95, 52–59.
Hollon, S. D., Evans, M. D., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1987). Causal mediation of change in treatment for depression: Discriminating between nonspecificity and noncausality. Psychological Bulletin, 102, 139–149.
Hollon, S. D., Evans, M. D., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1990). Cognitive mediation of relapse prevention following treatment for depression: Implications of differential risks. In R. E. Ingram (Ed.), Psychological aspects of depression (pp. 117–136). New York: Plenum Press.
Horvath, A. O., & Greenberg, L. S. (1986). The development of the Working Alliance Inventory. In L. S. Greenberg & W. M. Pinsof (Eds.), The psychotherapeutic process: A research handbook (pp. 529–556). New York: Guilford Press.
Horvath, A. O., Gaston, L., & Luborsky, L. (in press). The therapeutic and working alliance. In N. Miller, L. Luborsky, J. P. Barber, & J. Docherty (Eds.), Handbook of psychodynamic treatment research and practice: A how-to-do it guide. New York: Basic Books.
Jacobson, N. S., & Revenstorf, D. (1988). Statistics for assessing clinical significance of psychotherapy techniques: Issues, problems, and new developments. Behavioral Assessment, 10, 133–145. (See also the entire issue.)
Kazdin, A. E. (1986). The evaluation of psychotherapy: Research design and methodology. In S. L. Garfield & A. E. Bergin (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis (3rd ed., pp. 23–68). New York: Wiley.
Klerman, G. L., Weissman, M. M., Rounsaville, B. J., & Chevron, E. S. (1984). Interpersonal psychotherapy of depression. New York: Basic Books.
Luborsky, L. (1975). Clinicians’ judgments of mental health: Specimen case descriptions and forms for the Health-Sickness Rating Scale. Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic, 35, 448–480.
Luborsky, L. (1976). Helping alliances in psychotherapy: The groundwork for a study of their relationship to its outcome. In J. L. Claghorn (Ed.), Successful psychotherapy (pp. 92–116). New York: Brunner/Mazel.
Luborsky, L. (1984). Principles of psychoanalytic psychotherapy: A manual for supportive-expressive (SE) treatment. New York: Basic Books.
Luborsky, L., Barber, J. P., & Crits-Christoph, P. (1990). Theory based research for understanding the process of dynamic psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 58, 281–287.
Luborsky, L., & Crits-Christoph, P. (1990). Understanding transference—the CCRT Method (The Core Conflictual Relationship Theme). New York: Basic Books.
Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., Alexander, L., Margolis, M., & Cohen, M. (1983). Two helping alliance methods for predicting outcomes of psychotherapy: A counting signs versus a global rating method. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 171, 480–492.
Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., Mintz, J., & Auerbach, A. (1988). Who will benefit from psychotherapy? Predicting therapeutic outcomes. New York: Basic Books.
Luborsky, L., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1984). The use of psychotherapy treatment manuals: A small revolution in psychotherapy research style. Clinical Psychology Review, 4, 403–429.
Luborsky, L., & Fiske, D. W. (1991). Principles for designing studies of the process and efficacy of dynamic psychotherapy. Unpublished manuscript. University of Pennsylvania.
Luborsky, L., McLellan, A. T., Woody, G. E., O’Brien, C. P., & Auerbach, A. (1985). Therapist success and its determinants. Archives of General Psychiatry, 42, 602–611.
Luborsky, L., Singer, B., & Luborsky, L. (1975). Comparative studies of psychotherapies. Archives of General Psychiatry, 32, 995–1008.
Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., Barber, J., & Cacciola, J. (1992). Factors influencing outcomes of dynamic psychotherapy for major depression. Unpublished manuscript.
Malan, D. M. (1976). Toward the validation of dynamic psychotherapy. New York: Plenum Press.
Marmar, C. R., & Gaston, L. (1988). California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales (CALPAS) Manual. Unpublished manuscript, University of California, San Francisco.
Marmar, C. R., Horowitz, M. J., Weiss, D. S., & Marziali, E. (1986). Development of the Therapeutic Alliance Rating System. In L. S. Greenberg & W. M. Pinsof (Eds.), The psychotherapeutic process: A research handbook (pp. 367–390). New York: Guilford Press.
Marmar, C. R., Gaston, L., Gallagher, D., & Thompson, L. W. (1989). Therapeutic alliance and outcome of behavioral, cognitive and brief dynamic therapy of late-life depression. Unpublished manuscript.
Marziali, E. (1984). Prediction of outcome of brief psychotherapy from therapist interpretive interventions. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 301–304.
McCullough, L. (1987, July). The effects of therapist interventions combined with different patient responses and correlated with outcome at termination of treatment. Paper presented at the meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Ulm, Germany.
McCullough, L., Winston, A., Laikin, M., & Vitolo, A. (1989, June). The effect of robustness of interpretation on patient affective and defensive responding and therapy outcome. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, Toronto.
Miller, N., Luborsky, L., Barber, J. P., & Docherty, J. (in press). Handbook of psychodynamic treatment research and practice: A how-to-do it Guide. New York: Basic Books.
Morgan, R., Luborsky, L., Crits-Christoph, P., Curtis, H., & Solomon, J. (1982). Predicting the outcomes of psychotherapy by the Penn Helping Alliance Rating Method. Archives of General Psychiatry, 39, 397–402.
Orlinsky, D., & Howard, K. (1986). Process and outcome of psychotherapy. In S. Garfield & A. Bergin (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis (3rd ed., pp. 311–381). New York: Wiley.
Paul, G. L. (1967). Strategy of outcome research in psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 31, 109–118.
Persons, J. B, & Miranda, J. (1990). Cognitive theories of vulnerability to depression: Reconciling negative evidence. Unpublished manuscript.
Peterson, C., & Seligman, M. E. P. (1984). Causal explanations as a risk factor for depression: Theory and evidence. Psychological Review, 91, 347–374.
Piper, W., Debbane, E., Bienvenu, J., de Carufel, F., & Garant, J. (1986). Relationships between the object of focus of therapist interpretations and outcome in short-term individual psychotherapy. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 59, 1–11.
Rosenthal, R., & Rosnow, R. L. (1984). Essentials of behavioral research: Method and data analysis. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Rounsaville, B. J., Glazer, W., Wilbur, C. H., Weissman, M. M., & Kleber, H. D. (1983). Short-term interpersonal psychotherapy in methadone maintained opiate addicts. Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 629–636.
Rounsaville, B. J., Gawin, F., & Kleber, H. (1985). Interpersonal psychotherapy adapted for ambulatory cocaine abusers. American Journal of Drug and Alcohol Abuse, 11, 171–191.
Rounsaville, B. J., Klerman, G. L., Weissman, M. M., & Chevron, E. S. (1985). Short-term interpersonal psychotherapy for depression. In E. E. Beckham & W. R. Leber (Eds.), Handbook of depression: Treatment, assessment and research (pp. 124–150). Homewood, IL: Dorsey Press.
Rush, A. J., Beck, A. T., Kovacs, J. M., & Hollon, S. D. (1977). Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy vs. pharmacotherapy in outpatient depressives. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 1, 17–37.
Seligman, M. E. P., Abramson, L. Y., Semmel, A., & von Baeyer, C. (1979). Depressive attributional style. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 88, 242–247.
Seligman, M. E. P., Castellon, C., Cacciola, J., Schulman, P., Luborsky, L., Ollove, M., & Downing, R. (1988). Explanatory style change during cognitive therapy for unipolar depression. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 97, 13–18.
Shea, T, Elkin, I.,& Collins, J. (1990, June). Follow-up findings from the NIMH TDCRP: Course of depression. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research at Wintergreen, VA.
Silberschatz, G., Fretter, P., & Curtis, J. (1986). How do interpretations influence the process of psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 54, 646–652.
Silverman, J. S., Silverman, J. A., & Eardley, D. A. (1984). Do maladaptive attitudes cause depression? Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 28–30.
Simons, A. D., Garfield, S. L., & Murphy, G. E. (1984). The process of change in cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy for depression. Archives of General Psychiatry, 41, 45–51.
Smith, M., Glass, C., & Miller, T. (1980). The benefits of psychotherapy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Sokol, L., Beck, A. T., Greenberg, R. L., Wright, F. D., & Berchick, R. J. (1989). Cognitive therapy of panic disorder: A nonpharmacological alternative. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 177, 711–716.
Strupp, H. S., & Binder, J. L. (1984). Psychotherapy in a new key: A guide to time-limited dynamic psychotherapy. New York: Basic Books.
Tichenor, V., & Hill, C. E. (1989). A comparison of six measures of working alliance. Psychotherapy, 26, 195–199.
Weiss, J., Sampson, H., & the Mount Zion Psychotherapy Group (1986). The psychoanalytic process: Theory, clinical observation & empirical research. New York: Guilford Press.
Weissman, A. N. (1979). The Dysfunctional Attitudes Scale: A validation study. Unpublished manuscript, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia.
Woody, G., Luborsky, L., McLellan, A. T., O’Brien, C., Beck, A. T., Blaine, J., Herman, I., & Hole, A. V (1983). Psychotherapy for opiate addicts: Does it help? Archives of General Psychiatry, 40, 639–645.
Woody, G. E., McLellan, A. T., Luborsky, L., O’Brien, C. P., Blaine, J., Fox, S., Herman, I., & Beck, A. T. (1984). Severity of psychiatric symptoms as a predictor of benefits from psychotherapy: The VA-Penn study. American Journal of Psychiatry, 141, 1172–1177.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 1992 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Barber, J.P., Luborsky, L.B. (1992). Psychotherapy Research. In: Hsu, L.K.G., Hersen, M. (eds) Research in Psychiatry. Critical Issues in Psychiatry. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0688-5_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-0688-5_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-0690-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-0688-5
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive