TY - JOUR A1 - Fonagy, Peter T1 - Review essay Patrick Casement: Learning from the Patient T2 - Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 647-658. N2 - I outline the arguments advanced by Lester Luborsky and Hans H. Strupp on the current controversy regarding empirically supported treatment (EST). I support Luborsky's criticisms of some current attempts to provide empirical support for psychoanalytic treatment, but, unable to endorse the conclusion that therapies are equally effective, I argue that substantial evidence does exist to guide clinicians, even if this evidence is not yet accessible through a mechanical process of review. I also suggest that Luborsky's >open verdict< on the length-of-treatment issue is too conservative: Longer psychoanalytic treatments have been repeatedly associated with superior outcomes across a range of measures. I agree with Strupp that the current emphasis on EST is probably motivated primarily by economic rather than ethical conditions. However, I criticize Strupp's largely negative treatment of the issue of treatment >manualization< and argue that, though manualization is a mixed blessing, only a clear, structured, and coherent framework that guides the therapeutic process can enable the therapist to withstand the interpersonal pressures inevitably generated in the consulting room. I conclude by arguing that there is a need for refinement of the concepts and methods by which outcomes are evaluated in order to help psychoanalysis and psychotherapy become a more specific family of treatments for particular conditions. Y1 - 2001 UR - https://opus4.kobv.de/opus4-Fromm/frontdoor/index/index/docId/31972 ER -