Review essay Patrick Casement: Learning from the Patient
- 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.
MetadatenAuthor: | Peter Fonagy |
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Parent Title (English): | Psychoanalytic Dialogues Vol. 11 (2001), pp. 647-658. |
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Document Type: | Reviews |
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Language: | English |
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Year of first Publication: | 2001 |
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Release Date: | 2017/11/20 |
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Format: | xerox upon request / Fotokopie auf Anfrage |
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IdNo: | Fonagy_P_2001a |
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Erich Fromm's Library and Erich Fromm Archive: | Reviews / Rezensionen |
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Licence (German): | |
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