If two therapies both “feel helpful,” how would you know which one changed the classified problem?
You would need a comparison: random assignment, a specified outcome, and often a placebo or waitlist so the specified treatment can be shown to add something (Myers & DeWall, 2021; Spielman et al., 2020). Psychotherapy is a structured psychological treatment. Evidence-based practice integrates that research with expertise and the person. A feeling of help is data. It is not, by itself, a between-groups result.
What does a meta-analysis add that one clinic story cannot?
A quantitative combination of results across studies, with the variation among those studies still visible. Cognitive-behavioral therapy is one family with specified procedures; psychodynamic and humanistic families are others. Biomedical treatments (for example a drug acting at a synapse) are a different class of intervention. Figure 20.1 is the evidence ladder for this survey. This is not a recommendation for any person. Abnormal Psychology will return to classification; this article only names how a treatment is shown to work.
| Evidence | What it can support |
|---|---|
| a person’s report that a session helped | That this person felt helped |
| one clinic’s uncontrolled series | That some people improved; cause is unsettled |
| a randomized comparison, including placebo or waitlist | That the specified treatment added something in that sample |
| a meta-analysis of such comparisons | A quantitative summary across studies |
Check yourself with a quick quiz
A few questions on this lesson only. Questions you miss come back later. Progress stays in this browser and is shared with the full quiz.
References
- Myers, D. G., & DeWall, C. N. (2021). Psychology (13th ed.). Worth.
- Spielman, R. M., Jenkins, W. J., & Lovett, M. D. (2020). Psychology 2e. OpenStax.
Image and media credits
- Top image. A closed book and a small hourglass on a table. It sets the scene for this lesson on treatment. Source: Created for this site with Grok Imagine (xAI), an AI image generator. License: Original image made for mattgaugerx.com.
