Discuss the effectiveness of psychotherapy.

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Students' answers may vary.

Identifying the single most appropriate form of treatment is a controversial and still unresolved task for psychologists specializing in psychological disorders. In fact, even before considering whether one form of therapy works better than another, one needs to determine whether therapy in any form effectively alleviates psychological disturbances. In a study published in 1952, Hans Eysenck claimed that people who received psychodynamic treatment and related therapies were no better off at the end of treatment than were people who were placed on a waiting list for treatment but never received it. He concluded that people would go into spontaneous remission, recovery without formal treatment, if they were simply left alone. His review stimulated a continuing stream of better controlled, more carefully crafted studies on the effectiveness of psychotherapy. Today most psychologists agree: Therapy does work. Several comprehensive reviews indicate that therapy brings about greater improvement than no treatment at all, with the rate of spontaneous remission being fairly low. In most cases, then, the symptoms of abnormal behavior do not go away by themselves if left untreated-although the issue continues to be hotly debated.