Science

There has been a tremendous movement toward evidence-based treatment in clinical psychology over the past decade. On its face, this is a good thing — the idea that we should use scientific findings to make sure the types of treatment we’re using in psychotherapy actually work. My own clinical training included a wide array of […]

Citing a relative scarcity of research on the efficacy of CBT for GAD as compared to pharmacotherapy, Kristin Mitte conducted a meta-analysis of 65 controlled studies using a random-effects model to produce results that could be generalized beyond the selected studies. A “trim-and-fill analysis” was also conducted to correct for publication bias, several additional sensitivity […]

The Canadian Psychiatric Association (CPA) cites a number of meta-analyses which it recognizes as having “clearly demonstrated” the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in alleviating anxiety symptoms. According to these Guidelines, the effectiveness of CBT in the treatment of anxiety symptoms in general is on par with that of antidepressant drug treatment. This appears to […]

Borkovec, Newman, Pincus, and Lytle here cite prior reviews of outcome research as having well established CBT as an effective treatment for GAD with low drop-out rates and treatment gains that “routinely maintained or increased at long-term follow-up.” Regardless of this, CBT still fails to produce highly functional states in a large percentage of clients. […]

Citation: Westen, D., & Morrison, K. (2001). A multidimensional meta-analysis of treatments for depression, panic, and generalized anxiety disorder: an empirical examination of the status of empirically supported therapies. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 69(6), 875-899. This meta-analysis draws a distinction between initial response and sustained efficacy and attempts to determine the sustained efficacy of evidence-based treatments. […]

It is well known that the average brain size of elderly people is smaller than that of younger ones. Most doctors and scientists have decided that this is a normal part of aging. However, it turns out that this may not be the case. A new study in the APA journal Neuropsychology used a highly controlled sample […]

The prevailing theories of hypnotic susceptibility hold that the ability to experience hypnotic phenomena is a function of either dissociative capacity or of attentional control. However, an upcoming study in the journal Consciousness And Cognition claims to challenge both of these ideas. The researchers administered the Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility (Form C), the Dissociative Experiences […]