Abstract As the conceptualization of evidence-based practice expands beyond the phasic application of treatment manuals for specific mental health diagnoses, greater attention is being paid to treatment personalization, including at its very first steps. One approach to such early personalization involves therapist flexible responsivity to patients’ presenting nondiagnostic characteristics, such as their treatment-related beliefs, that […]
Abstract In the middle of the 20th century, Hans Eysenck reviewed studies of psychotherapy, which consisted primarily of psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, and eclectic treatments, and concluded that psychotherapy (as opposed to behavior therapy) was not effective and was possibly harmful. In the inaugural article in Psychotherapy, Hans Strupp challenged Eysenck’s conclusions and discussed how psychotherapy research should […]
A classic social psychological finding is that expectations shape people’s experiences, perceptions, and behaviors (e.g., Asch, 1946). Clinical psychologists have long been interested in how expectations specifically affect psychotherapy (e.g., Frank, 1968). After decades of theoretical and empirical attention, it appears safe to say that patient expectations are an important ingredient of psychotherapeutic change (e.g., Kirsch, […]