Some Comments on “Principles of Empirically Supported Interventions in Counseling Psychology”

Abstract

In this article, the author offers his appraisal of the Principles of Empirically Supported Interventions as developed by a Special Task Group of the Division of Counseling Psychology and also of the three articles evaluating these principles with reference to family interventions, anger management, and career counseling. In general, the author responds quite favorably to the principles presented and to the critical appraisal of the guidelines published earlier by the Division of Clinical Psychology. The latter are tied to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders diagnoses and are not sensitive to important client attributes such as ethnicity, motivation for treatment, education, and the like. The counseling psychology principles also emphasize a number of other important research considerations. The author also offers some specific comments for the three areas mentioned earlier with special reference to some unmet research needs.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

American Psychiatric Association . (1994). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (4th ed.). Washington, DC: Author.

Bergin, A. E. (1971). The evaluation of therapeutic outcomes. In A. E. Bergin & S. L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change: An empirical analysis (pp. 299-344). New York: John Wiley.

Castonguay, L. G. , Goldfried, M. R. , Wiser, S. , Raue, P. J. , & Hayes, A. M. (1996). Predicting the effect of cognitive therapy for depression: A study of unique and common factors. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 497-504.

Deffenbacher, J. L. , Oetting, E. R. , & DiGiuseppe, R. A. (2002). Principles of empirically supported interventions applied to anger management. The Counseling Psychologist, 30(2), 262-280.

Elkin, J. (1994). The NIMH treatment of depression collaborative research program: Where we began and where we are. In A. E. Bergin & S. L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (4th ed., pp. 114-139). New York: John Wiley.

Eysenck, H. J. (1952). The effects of psychotherapy: An evaluation. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 16, 319-324.

Eysenck, H. J. (1961). The effects of psychotherapy. In H. J. Eysenck (Ed.), Handbook of abnormal psychology (pp. 697-725). New York: Basic Books.

Eysenck, H. J. (1966). The effects of psychotherapy. New York: International Science Press.

Garfield, S. L. (1995). Psychotherapy: An eclectic-integrative approach (2nd ed.). New York: John Wiley.

10.

Garfield, S. L. (1996). Some problems associated with “validated” forms of psychotherapy. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 3, 218-229.

11.

Garfield, S. L. (1998). Some comments on empirically supported treatments. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 121-125.

12.

Lambert, M. , & Bergin, A. E. (1994). The effectiveness of psychotherapy. In A. E. Bergin & S. L. Garfield (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change (4th ed., pp. 143-189). New York: John Wiley.

13.

Meltzoff, J. , & Kornreich, M. (1970). Research in psychotherapy. New York: Atherton.

14.

Sexton, T. L. , & Alexander, J. F. (2002). Family-based empirically supported interventions. The Counseling Psychologist, 30(2), 238-261.

15.

Sloane, R. B. , Staples, F. R. , Cristol, A. H. , Yorkston, N. J. , & Whipple, K. (1975). Psychotherapy versus behavior therapy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

16.

Smith, M. L. , Glass, G. V. , & Miller, T. I. (1980). The benefits of psychotherapy. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

17.

Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures . (1995). Division of Clinical Psychology. American Psychological Association. Training in and dissemination of empirically-validated psychological treatments: Report and recommendation. The Clinical Psychologist, 48(1), 3-23.

18.

Wampold, B. E. , Lichtenberg, J. W. , & Waehler, C. A. (2002). Principles of empirically supported interventions in counseling psychology. The Counseling Psychologist, 30(2), 197-217.

19.

Wampold, B. E. , Mondin, G. W. , Moody, M. , Stick, F. , Benson, K. , & Ahn, H. (1997). A meta-analysis of outcome studies comparing bona fide psychotherapies: Empirically, “all must have prizes.” Psychological Bulletin, 122, 203-215.

20.

Whiston, S. C. (2002). Application of the principles: Career counseling and interventions. The Counseling Psychologist, 30(2), 218-237.