laura
Senior Member
- Messages
- 108
- Location
- Southern California
WillowJ: (and anyone else who is interested)
Here is my answer to your questions:
In my area of the country (SoCal), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and the term evidenced-based practices are linked due towait for itgovernmental financial considerations. Okay, its not quite as nefarious as that. Maybe. But what has happened is this: much of the counseling services that are provided in SoCal are paid for by government contracts to non-profit agencies. Heres how it works:
When I originally said CBT is organized, I meant it is a neat, clean theory. There are a couple versions of it, but the basic idea is that 1) an activating event leads to 2) a belief, which leads to 3) consequences (emotions, behaviors, other thoughts). Straightforward, follow-the-dots. No worry about the complex nature of psychological functioning and the myriad factors that influence us.
It is important to remember CBT is, in fact, cognitive behavioral therapy. It is not just a theory of cognitive functioning, but includes behavioral therapy (note that the origin of B.T. is running rats in boxes in a lab. Very mechanistic.). So CBT often includes a lot of behavioral instruction from therapist to client. And they believe in short-term therapy.
Thus: Combine a straightforward theory and behavioral interventions and you have a researchers dream foundation for creating a study investigating effectiveness of therapy. (To me, the use of CBT in research is a little like CFS researchers ignoring the heterogenic nature of the CFS population. Its just easier.) Add in the possibility of short-term treatment and an easy way to track services provided, and you have a perfect match for over-burdened, under-funded government social services.
Add in limited research funds, desire for quick results, etc. etc. and it is easy to see the appeal for CBT/BT in a broad spectrum of studies.
Anyhow, like I said, CBT devotees love to do research. It is one of the most researched psychological theories. Not, by the way, the most effective (according to research!), just often used in studies. So agencies are being told they have to use evidenced-based practices. Makes it sound like therapists are doing better work while forcing them to follow certain protocols which save the government money.
Regarding medications, e.g. prozac: technically, yes, medications are evidenced-based, as research has been done. But in the counseling world the term evidenced-based is only used regarding practices performed or initiated in the counseling session. Non-medication therapeutic interventions.
So thats why CBT/GET are evidenced-based because they are coming from a cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy perspective, and someone put them in a research study, so now we can say they are evidence-based.
[As an aside, less research has been done on psychodynamic form of therapy because it traditionally hasn't focused on research. That is slowly changing. The research that has been done is actually very positive. For example, an article in the most recent issue of Psychology Today points out that the changes produced by psychodynamic therapy often are longer-lasting and deeper than symptom-based treatments.]
Here is my answer to your questions:
In my area of the country (SoCal), CBT (Cognitive Behavioral Therapy) and the term evidenced-based practices are linked due towait for itgovernmental financial considerations. Okay, its not quite as nefarious as that. Maybe. But what has happened is this: much of the counseling services that are provided in SoCal are paid for by government contracts to non-profit agencies. Heres how it works:
When I originally said CBT is organized, I meant it is a neat, clean theory. There are a couple versions of it, but the basic idea is that 1) an activating event leads to 2) a belief, which leads to 3) consequences (emotions, behaviors, other thoughts). Straightforward, follow-the-dots. No worry about the complex nature of psychological functioning and the myriad factors that influence us.
It is important to remember CBT is, in fact, cognitive behavioral therapy. It is not just a theory of cognitive functioning, but includes behavioral therapy (note that the origin of B.T. is running rats in boxes in a lab. Very mechanistic.). So CBT often includes a lot of behavioral instruction from therapist to client. And they believe in short-term therapy.
Thus: Combine a straightforward theory and behavioral interventions and you have a researchers dream foundation for creating a study investigating effectiveness of therapy. (To me, the use of CBT in research is a little like CFS researchers ignoring the heterogenic nature of the CFS population. Its just easier.) Add in the possibility of short-term treatment and an easy way to track services provided, and you have a perfect match for over-burdened, under-funded government social services.
Add in limited research funds, desire for quick results, etc. etc. and it is easy to see the appeal for CBT/BT in a broad spectrum of studies.
Anyhow, like I said, CBT devotees love to do research. It is one of the most researched psychological theories. Not, by the way, the most effective (according to research!), just often used in studies. So agencies are being told they have to use evidenced-based practices. Makes it sound like therapists are doing better work while forcing them to follow certain protocols which save the government money.
Regarding medications, e.g. prozac: technically, yes, medications are evidenced-based, as research has been done. But in the counseling world the term evidenced-based is only used regarding practices performed or initiated in the counseling session. Non-medication therapeutic interventions.
So thats why CBT/GET are evidenced-based because they are coming from a cognitive therapy and behavioral therapy perspective, and someone put them in a research study, so now we can say they are evidence-based.
[As an aside, less research has been done on psychodynamic form of therapy because it traditionally hasn't focused on research. That is slowly changing. The research that has been done is actually very positive. For example, an article in the most recent issue of Psychology Today points out that the changes produced by psychodynamic therapy often are longer-lasting and deeper than symptom-based treatments.]