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| The effectiveness of psychological treatment in general. |
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| There have been hundreds on studies on whether psychotherapy works to resolve emotional problems. One study summarized 475 studies of the outcome of therapy. It found 80% of the people who received therapy showed improvement by the end. Many other studies agree that about 80% of the people in therapy show improvement. |
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| An interesting study was done by Consumer Reports, who surveyed 7000 readers in 1994 as to their experiences with psychotherapy, usually with a psychologist. |
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| 1) | Of the people who reported feeling "very poor" or "fairly poor" at the beginning of therapy, approximately 90% reported improvement, with most feeling "very good" or "good". |
| 2) | Those who saw a mental health professional improved more and were more satisfied with their treatment than those who only saw their family doctor. |
| 3) | The people who received psychotherapy alone improved as much as those who received medications and psychotherapy in combination. Taking medications in addition to psychotherapy made no noticeable difference in this study. |
| 4) | The longer people stayed in therapy, the more they improved in their specific problems that led to treatment. They also improved in their ability to relate to others, coping with everyday stress, enjoying life more, personal growth and understanding, self-esteem and confidence. |
| The strong point of this study is that it looked at how psychotherapy was really done, in the field, when the psychologist was not being monitored by researchers. It still showed that treatment was effective. |
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| The effectiveness of psychological treatment for other disorders. |
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| Treatment by a psychologist can be very helpful even for problems that people do not traditionally think of seeing a psychologist for. Below are just a few of many examples. |
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| 1) | Breast cancer patients receiving both cancer treatment and group therapy led by a psychologist survived 2 years longer than patients receiving only routine cancer treatment. |
| 2) | Psychologists can effectively help patients facing surgery or recovering from heart attacks. About 65% of the treated people showed reduced anxiety and increased cooperation and recovery, compared to 35% of the untreated people. |
| 3) | Psychological treatment for insomnia showed improvement in 74% to 81% of people (for sleep induction and sleep maintenance), compared to people who did not receive treatment. These changes are maintained over the long run, and are actually larger than the effects obtained from sleeping pills. Pills also have problems with tolerance, a rebound effect, dependence, and residual effects in the daytime. |
| Summary |
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| Approximately 80% of the people who enter treatment with a psychologist show improvement by the end of treatment, across a very wide range of problems, such as dealing with stress, marriage problems, parenting issues, mood disorders etc. Psychologists can even help with physical problems, such as breast cancer, heart attacks, and insomnia. In some cases, this can significantly increase people’s lifespan and quality of life. |
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Smith ML, Glass GV, Miller TI. (1980). The benefits of psychotherapy. Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press.Lipsey MW, & Wilson DB. The efficacy of psychological, educational, and behavioral treatment: Confirmation from meta-analysis. Amer Psychologist 1993:48 1181-1209
Does Therapy Help? Consumer Reports, November 1995, pp.734-739
Spiegel D. The effect of psychosocial treatment on survival of patients with metastatic breast cancer. Lancet 1989;2(8668):88-94.
Morin CM, Culbert JP, & Schwartz SM. Nonpharmacological interventions for insomnia: A meta-analysis of treatment efficacy. Am J Psychiatry 1994:151:1172-1180.
