Last week, I complained about how hard it was to find a short and to-the-point article explaining that, yes indeed, psychotherapy works. This week, while searching for something else, I found it in a few short minutes. Tsk. Anyway, here it is. Better late than never.
This week, I’d like to continue the theme by sharing some of the things which makes psychotherapy work well, or not so well, according to research.
Some of these things are a bit surprising. Did you know, for example:
- Various different therapy techniques, about which grand claims of amazing results are often made, “make only a very small contribution to therapeutic effectiveness“?
- Therapists with a healthy dose of self-doubt tend to be more effective than those who do not question their awesomeness? (“Healthy” being a key word there; we’re not talking about therapists who lack confidence completely, and think they stink.)
- On a similar note to the healthy doubt thing, experts are in danger of “over-claiming”? This catchy term basically means thinking you know stuff, when in fact, you are wrong.
So, does psychotherapy work? Yes. But we therapists should not be too smug and self-important about it. Seems like when we are, it actually tends to work less.
Moving right along, let’s shift from things which are not so helpful to one which is. There are a few factors which help make therapy work well. I am going to highlight just one, which perhaps has the greatest agreement among therapists, as well as evidence from research:
AKA “the alliance,” the therapeutic relationship needs to be — as the term “alliance” suggests — a shared and collaborative matter. You know, negotiation and concensus and mutual agreement… words like that. Words which mean “two people working together,” not “one person telling another what to do.”
Some might respond to this with something like, “Duh!” (I might be one of them.) However, as obvious as it might sound, a good therapist needs to be really interested in the person they are working with.
Like really. Not fake interested.
A good therapist needs to be respectful and understanding. Genuine. (I like that word, it reminds me of the 1960’s.) Empathic. (That one will need a separate blog post, somewhere down the road.)
A good therapist needs to really listen carefully and well. Again, that might seem to fall heavily on the obvious side of the fence. Obvious does not mean easy, though! After many years of working on that listening thing, I still show up each day and enjoy the challenge of working to improve my skill. To use a tired old cliche, “it takes a lifetime to master.”
image sources
- Listening Ear: Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
