“Evidence-based therapy” has become quite the catchphrase.

The term “evidence-based” comes from medicine. It gained

attention in the 1990s and was, at the time, a call for critical

thinking. It reflected the recognition that “we’ve always done it

this way” is not a good enough reason to keep doing something.

Medical decisions should reflect clinical judgment, patients’

values and preferences, and relevant scientific research.

But “evidence-based” has come to mean something very different

in the psychotherapy world. The term has been appropriated

to promote a particular ideology and agenda. It has become

a code word for manualised treatment—most often, brief, highlystructured

cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). “Manualised”

means the therapy is literally conducted by following an instruction

manual. The treatment may be pre-scripted in a way that

leaves little room for understanding patients as individuals. ...

Click below to read the the full version of the recently updated paper from Division 39 member Jonathan Shedler, PhD.

http://jonathanshedler.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/Shedler-2015-Where-is-the-evidence-for-evidence-based-therapy-R.pdf