Are therapists more important than therapies?

February 5, 2004 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks to the British Psychological Society research bulletin for drawing my attention to a recent publication suggesting that client recovery is more influenced by the particular therapist they are working with than by the therapy they receive.

Okiishi and colleagues at Brigham Young and Ohio universities in
America examined outcome data from 1,841 students who saw therapists at a university counselling service for a range of difficulties.

The most powerful finding of the study was that outcomes were closely related to the particular therapist carrying out the student's treatment. Which therapists were 'good' or 'poor' did not appear to relate to orientation, type or even amount of training.

As the BPS email bulletin states "A client seeing one of the top three therapists
(on average) could expect to feel dramatically better after a few weeks
treatment. By contrast, a client seen by one of the bottom three therapists
could expect, on average, to feel the same, possibly worse, after three
times as much treatment."

Uncomfortable as this might make us feel, the authors suggest it is time for researchers and clinicians to take notice of individual therapist differences when conducting treatment research and evaluating outcomes.

Reference:
Okishi, J., Lambert, M.J., Nielsen, S.L. & Ogles, B.M. (2003). Waiting for
supershrink: an empirical analysis of therapist effects. Clinical
Psychology and Psychotherapy, 10, 361-373.

You can find out more about the British Psychological Society Research Bulletin, a weekly email of recent research in psychology and related disciplines on their website.