Counsellor - London, Stevenage | CBT Care

Counsellor - London, Stevenage | CBT Care

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Is it really important what kind of therapy modality you take?

Is it really important what kind of therapy modality one should take?

(By Meir Stolear, 27/07/13)

Dr. Bruce Levine (24/05/13), don’t think so. In his article “Why a Great Therapist Probably Beats a Great Antidepressant” (http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/05/24/best-therapy-for-depression-counseling-or-antidepressant), he used the following evidence.

Bruce Wampold (2010) examined hundreds of studies and found that outcome effectiveness doesn’t depend on the specific techniques of psychotherapy, but instead on the alliance between a therapist and their client, as well as the client’s confidence in the therapy (e.g., CBT) and in the therapist. In other words, what matters is finding a great therapist you like and trust.

Michael Lambert estimates that the factors responsible for “client improvement in psychotherapy are as follow:

40% of improvement can be explained by independent positive changes in the client life.

30% can be explained by therapist individualities (e.g., empathy, acceptance, warmth, and encouragement).

15% can be explained by “expectancy” or the placebo effect (i.e., patient believes that their therapist is extremely credible and trusts them).

15% can be explained by the techniques used in talk therapy; specifically, if the therapist and client believe in a technique, like CBT, that might be more important than the technique itself.

However, in my 20 years of clinical experience, I have learnt that CBT (specifically REBT) are by far more efficient way to help people to get better. What could be completed in 6 to 12 months, using a traditional counselling or psychotherapy, can be accomplished in 8 to 20 weeks of CBT/REBT treatment (preferably done by an experience therapist). However, I do agree that it is the constructive therapeutic alliances, which will determine a successful therapy outcome.