Hockenbury Discovering Psychology 5th txtbk

602 CHAPTER 14 TherapiesAnd, multiple meta-analyses have found that both individual and group therapy areequally effective in producing significant gains in psychological functioning(Burlingame & others, 2004; Cuijpers & others, 2008).Brain-imaging technologies are providing another line of evidence demonstratingthe power of psychotherapy to bring about change (Farmer, 2009). In onestudy, PET scans were used to measure brain activity before and after 10 weeks oftherapy for obsessive–compulsive disorder (Schwartz & others, 1996). The psychotherapypatients who improved showed the same changes in brain functionthat are associated with effective drug therapy for this disorder (see Chapter 13).Similarly, as we’ll show you later in this chapter, PET scans of patients with depressionshow changes in brain functioning toward more normal levels after 12weeks of interpersonal therapy (Martin & others, 2001). In other words, psychotherapyalone produces distinct physiological changes in the brain—changes thatare associated with a reduction in symptoms (Arden & Linford, 2009).Nevertheless, it’s important to note that psychotherapy is not a miracle cure.While most people experience significant benefits from psychotherapy, not everyonebenefits to the same degree. Some people who enter psychotherapy improve onlyslightly or not at all. Others drop out early, presumably because therapy wasn’tworking as they had hoped (Barrett & others, 2008). And in some cases, people getworse despite therapeutic intervention (Boisvert & Faust, 2003).Is One Form of Psychotherapy Superior?Given that the major types of psychotherapy use different assumptions and techniques,does one type of psychotherapy stand out as more effective than the others? In some cases,one type of psychotherapy is more effective than another in treating a particular problem(Barlow, 2008; Beutler, 2002). For example, cognitive therapy and interpersonal therapyare effective in treating depression (Craighead & others, 2007). Cognitive, cognitivebehaviorial,and behavior therapies tend to be more successful than insight-orientedtherapies in helping people who are experiencing panic disorder, obsessive–compulsivedisorder, and phobias (Chambless & Ollendick, 2001; Craske & Barlow, 2008; Clark &others, 2003; Siev & Chambless, 2007). And, insight-oriented therapies are also less effectivethan other therapies in the treatment of disorders characterized by severe psychoticsymptoms, such as schizophrenia (Mueser & Glynn, 1993).However, when meta-analysis techniques are used to assess the collective results oftreatment outcome studies, a surprising but consistent finding emerges: In general,there is little or no difference in the effectiveness of different psychotherapies. Despitesometimes dramatic differences in psychotherapy techniques, all of the standardpsychotherapies have very similar success rates (Cooper, 2008; Luborsky & others,2002; Wampold, 2001).One important qualification must be made at this point. In this chapter, we’ve devotedconsiderable time to explaining four major approaches to therapy: psychoanalyticand psychodynamic therapy; humanistic therapy; behavior therapy; and cognitive andcognitive-behavioral therapies. While distinct, all of these psychotherapy approacheshave in common the fact that they are empirically supported treatments. In other words,they are based on known psychological principles, have been subjected to controlledscientific trials, and have demonstrated their effectiveness in helping people with psychologicalproblems (Chambless & Ollendick, 2001).In contrast, one ongoing issue in contemporary psychotherapy is the proliferationof untested psychotherapies (Beutler, 2000). The fact that there is little differencein outcome among the empirically supported therapies does not mean that anyand every form of psychotherapy is equally effective (Herbert & others, 2000;Lilienfeld & others, 2005). Too often, untested therapy techniques are heavily marketedand promoted, promising miraculous cures with little or no empirical researchto back up their claims (A. A. Lazarus, 2000; Lilienfeld, 2007).We examine the empirical evidence for one heavily promoted therapy in the ScienceVersus Pseudoscience box, “EMDR: Can You Wave Your Fears Away?” on page 604.