GENERAL COURSE DESCRIPTION

For many years a struggle has existed in the field of psychotherapy between those who favor a medical model approach and those who continue to see psychotherapy as more of an art form than a science. The result of this movement has begun to influence and redefine the field of psychotherapy and has had a significant impact on the kinds of treatments accepted by insurance companies and taught in graduate schools. While those in favor of Empirically Validated Treatments (EVTs) make their case that psychology is and should be rooted in the scientific method, those opposed often cite the limitations and the immense dangers to the field of such a view to the future of mental health services. Dr. Ron Levant, the 2004 elected president of the American Psychological Association stated: "This entire approach to develop manuals and require practicing psychologists to use them is fundamentally insane." In this course we examine both sides of the EST movement, including the original list of ESTs compiled by APA Division 12, some responses to the Division 12 Task Force, some alternative visions of what constitutes effective therapy, and research that draws a very different conclusion than that proposed by the EST movement. The course includes four online articles. The first one, by Paul Stevens, Ph.D., provides an overview of the controversy, including pros and cons of either approach. The second article, "Recommended Principles and Practices for the Provision of Humanistic Psychosocial Services: Alternative to Mandated Practice and Treatment Guidelines Task Force for the Development of Practice Recommendations For the Provision of Humanistic Psychosocial Service," is authored by task force chair Arthur Bohart, Ph.D. and is the response by APA Division 32 (Humanistic Psychology) to the original Division 12 report on Empirically Validated Treatments. The third, "Promises and Problems in Modern Psychotherapy: The Need for Increased Training in Evidence Based Treatments" is by Myrna Weissman, Ph.D. and William Sanderson, Ph.D. and reviews the advances in specifying empirically validated treatments and advocates the further study and teaching of ESTs in psychotherapy training programs. The fourth, "The Specificity Myth: The Fallacious Premise of Mental Health Treatment", was penned by J.D. Bozarth, Ph.D. and examines the field of Empirically Validated Treatments and contends that mental health treatment in the United States is founded upon the faulty premise that there are specific treatments for specific dysfunctions. Finally, the course provides additional resources and further reading on both sides of the debate.