Am J Psychiatry 1982; 139:709-717
Copyright © 1982 by American Psychiatric Association
Evaluating psychotherapy
P London and GL Klerman
The authors analyze the possible need for a standing national group to
evaluate the efficacy and safety of the psychotherapies. The current need
is for a body whose function is more scientifically evaluative and less
regulatory than the Food and Drug Administration because available
psychotherapies are less specific in their beneficial effects and less
dangerous than are drugs and because the practice of psychotherapy cannot
be restricted entirely to the health professions. Even so, the authors
believe the main criteria for discerning the boundaries between research
and established practice are in principle at least as clear for
psychotherapy as for other health interventions.
