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more than a similar group of depressed people who do not receive this psychotherapy (or who receive some alternative treatment). Treatments that have been shown to work in this way are called empirically supported treatments. Empirically Supported Treatments An empirically supported treatment is one that has been studied scientifically and shown to result in greater improvement than no treatment, a placebo, or some alternative treatment. These include many forms of psychotherapy, which can be as effective as standard drug therapies. Among the forms of psychotherapy with strong empirical support are the following: • Cognitivebehavioraltherapy.For depression, panic disorder, bulimia nervosa, and posttraumatic stress disorder. • Exposuretherapy.For posttraumatic stress disorder. • Behavioraltherapy.For depression. • Behavioralcouplestherapy.For alcoholism and substance abuse. • Exposuretherapywithresponseprevention.For obsessivecompulsive disorder. • Familytherapy.For schizophrenia. For a more complete list, see the following website, which is maintained by Division 12 of the American Psychological Association, the Society for Clinical Psychology: http://www.psychology.sunysb.edu/eklonsky-/ division12. Many in the clinical psychology community have argued that their field has not paid enough attention to scientific research—for example, by failing to use empirically supported treatments—and have suggested a variety of changes in the way clinicians are trained and treatments are evaluated and put into practice. Others believe that these claims are exaggerated and the suggested changes are unnecessary (Norcross, 12. Lilienfeld, S. O., Lynn, S. J., Ruscio, J., & Beyerstein, B. L. (2010). 50 great myths of popular psychology. Malden, MA: WileyBlackwell. Chapter 1 15 Beutler, & Levant, 2005). 13 On both sides of the debate, however, there is agreement that a scientific approach to clinical psychology is essential if the goal is to diagnose and treat psychological problems based on detailed and accurate knowledge about those problems and the most effective treatments for them. So not only is it important for scientific research in clinical psychology to continue, but it is also important for clinicians who never conduct a scientific study themselves to be scientifically literate so that they can read and evaluate new research and make treatment decisions based on the best available evidence. KEY TAKEAWAYS • The clinical practice of psychology—the diagnosis and treatment of psychological problems—is one important application of the scientific discipline of psychology. • Scientific research is relevant to clinical practice because it provides detailed and accurate knowledge about psychological problems and establishes whether treatments are effective. E X ER C IS ES 1. Discussion: Some clinicians argue that what they do is an “art form” based on intuition and personal experience and therefore cannot be evaluated scientifically. Write a paragraph about how satisfied you would be with such a clinician and why from each of three perspectives: a. a potential client of the clinician b. a judge who must decide whether to allow the clinician to testify as an expert witness in a child abuse case c. an insurance company representative who must decide whether to reimburse the clinician for his or her services Practice: Create a short list of questions that a client could ask a clinician to determine whether he or she pays sufficient attention to scientific research. 13. Norcross, J. C., Beutler, L. E., & Levant, R. F. (Eds.). (2005). Evidence-based practices in mental health: Debate and dialogue on the fundamental questions. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association. 16 Chapter 2 Getting Started in Research Available under Creative Commons-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/). Here is the first paragraph of a 2009 article in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. Human figure drawings (HFDs) are commonly used by professionals who interview children about suspected sexual abuse. It is assumed that these drawings will decrease children’s linguistic and
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