Research on the outcome of psychotherapy has been going on for over five decades. The
results are clear; psychotherapy works. There are costs and other barriers to getting
psychotherapy and the dropout rate is often high. But, of those who stay the course, the great
majority are gratified with their experiences in psychotherapy.
Despite the abundance of positive outcome research on psychotherapy in general, the search for
the magic, best technique has not done so well. When the available research is summarized, it is clear that no one psychotherapy technique is the stand-out winner. Additionally, the research
shows that no one type of therapy provider gets better results than another. All sorts
of psychotherapists working in good faith for the best interests of their patients produce good
results with some people, some of the time.
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