Psychotherapy research is undoubtedly one of the most puzzling, diverse, com plex, controversial, and multidimensional areas tackled by clinical psycholo gists, psychiatrists, and psychiatric social workers. The numerous theoretical, methodological, and clinical-research issues dealt with by workers in the field have increased exponentially in the past three decades. To do full justice to the area, monographs in each of the specific subareas would be warranted. In this volume, we, as editors, have endeavored to present the student and interested professional and practitioner with an understanding of the most salient issues and trends confronted by the psychotherapy researcher. In order to accomplish this task, we asked our colleagues, who are experts in their respective areas, to share their current thinking with us and with you, the read ers. Thus, many theoretical viewpoints are represented, with none having a monopoly over the others. This is as it should be, given the data collected by clinical researchers at this time. We have also attempted to capture the excite ment that has permeated the field in the past 30 years or so.

This book provides readers with essential information on the foundations of psychotherapy research, and on its applications to the study of both psychotherapy process and outcome. The aim is to stimulate a reflection on these issues in a way that will benefit researchers and clinicians, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, at different levels and from different perspectives. Accordingly, the book presents a balanced mix of chapters summarizing the state of the art in the field from different viewpoints and covering innovative topics and perspectives, reflecting some of the most established traditions and, at the same time, emerging approaches in the field in several countries. The contributors, who were invited from among the experts in our national and international professional networks, also represent a healthy mix of leading figures and young researchers. The first part of the book addresses a number of fundamental issues in psychotherapy research at a historical, philosophical, and theoretical level. The second part of the book is concerned with research on psychotherapy processes; in this regard, both quantitative and qualitative approaches are given equal consideration in order to reflect the growing relevance of the latter. The book’s third and last part examines research on psychotherapy outcomes, primarily focusing on quantitative approaches. Offering a balanced mix of perspectives, approaches and topics, the book represents a valuable tool for anyone interested in psychotherapy research.

In the last 15 years feedback interventions have had a significant impact on the field of psychotherapy research and have demonstrated their potential to enhance treatment outcomes, especially for patients with an increased risk of treatment failure. Current investigations on feedback research are concerned with potential moderators and mediators of these effects, as well as the design and the implementation of feedback into routine care. After summarizing the current state of feedback research, this book provides empirical investigations of contemporary feedback research. These efforts aim at answering three overarching questions: 1) How should we implement feedback systems into routine practice and how do therapist and patient attitudes influence its effects?, 2) How can we design feedback reports and decision support tools?, and 3) Why do patients become at risk of treatment failure and how should therapists intervene with these patients? The studies included in this book reflect the current state of feedback research and provide promising pathways for future endeavours that will enhance our understanding of feedback effects. This book was originally published as a special issue of Psychotherapy Research.

The wide gap between science and practice in psychotherapy is due in part to the one-way direction that has mostly defined the connection between researchers and clinicians, with researchers generating empirical knowledge with the hope that practitioners will implement it in their working environment. This traditional approach has not been optimal in addressing the day-to-day concerns of clinicians, or in providing easily generalizable practice guidelines in clinical routine. This book offers an alternative approach to psychotherapy research, based on a partnership between clinicians and researchers in different aspects of the decision, design, implementation, and dissemination of studies conducted in day-to-day practice. More specifically, it describes how to conduct practice-oriented research (POR) by presenting studies and lessons learned (in terms of obstacles faced, strategies used to overcome problems, benefits earned, and general recommendations) by eleven groups of who have been involved in POR in different settings around the world. The book provides tools to help clinicians be active participants in conducting clinically relevant studies, and set the agenda for future research. It seeks to foster collaboration between researchers and practitioners, generating knowledge that can improve our understanding of the process of change and the impact of psychotherapy. This book was originally published as a special issue of Psychotherapy Research.

With an emphasis on do-able research, the book examines the dilemmas and challenges for clinicians in recruiting participants and combining research with clinical practice, and includes step by step guides to doing research projects.

Although psychotherapy research shares many of the same methodological issues that pharmacology trials do, psychotherapy research poses unique challenges, including the difficulty (if not near impossibility) of keeping participants blind to treatment assignment, the need for a replicable manual and therapist training procedure, the importance of outside observation of therapy quality ratings, and the problems researchers face in measuring the active ingredients of psychotherapy. High-Quality Psychotherapy Research is for all psychotherapy investigators who wish to learn state-of-the-art psychotherapy research methods. Organized developmentally, the book explains the conceptualization of the trial, discusses the pilot study and the large scale study, and concludes with instructions for designing a multi-site trial. Topics specific to psychotherapy research are examined in detail, including innovations in data analysis, how to conduct multi-site psychotherapy trials, mediation of treatment outcomes, the transportability of evidence-based behavioral interventions in community practice, training community providers to be study therapists, and recruiting hard-to-reach populations. High-Quality Psychotherapy Research is an informative, practical book appropriate for a broad range of readers, from junior investigators developing their first study idea to seasoned investigators who wish to take their research to a larger-scale level.

In this collection, international contributors come together to discuss how qualitative and quantitative methods can be used in psychotherapy research. The book considers the advantages and disadvantages of each approach, and recognises how each method can enhance our understanding of psychotherapy. Divided into two parts, the book begins with an examination of quantitative research and discusses how we can transfer observations into numbers and statistical findings. Chapters on quantitative methods cover the development of new findings and the improvement of existing findings, identifying and analysing change, and using meta-analysis. The second half of the book comprises chapters considering how qualitative and mixed methods can be used in psychotherapy research. Chapters on qualitative and mixed methods identify various ways to strengthen the trustworthiness of qualitative findings via rigorous data collection and analysis techniques. Adapted from a special issue of Psychotherapy Research, this volume will be key reading for researchers, academics, and professionals who want a greater understanding of how a particular area of research methods can be used in psychotherapy.

Making Research Matter is an original contribution to the growing field of work-based learning with a focus on research aimed at developing the practice of counselling and psychotherapy addressing the practice-research gap. Stephen Goss, Christine Stevens and their contributors explore the links between research and professional practice and show how this can impact on practice to make a genuine, demonstrable contribution to the development of therapeutic services, good practice and the understanding of psychological and social issues. The book is divided into two parts. Part one gives an account of the thinking, ethos and development of work-based learning. It explores the importance of the in-depth rigorous and reflexive inquiry skills needed to sustain research project work. Part two presents nine studies of work-based psychotherapy or counselling related research. Each account sets out the focus and motivation of the study and critically discusses how the research design was developed, the choice of methods employed, with an explanation of the outcomes. A vital part of each account is a review of how the research has been used to make changes and developments in the work setting. Making Research Matter provides insights into the lived experience of the practitioner-researcher, to stimulate the reader to generate their own ideas for research enquiry. It presents a range of proven, successful research projects, and shows how they have made a difference in the development of theory and practice which lead to positive change, better services and more informed practice. It will be an essential resource for psychotherapists, counsellors, social workers, and those involved in coaching and clinical psychology.