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Getting our act together: Lessons on meaningful psychotherapy research from the philosophy of science
Author(s) -
Smith David Livingstone
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1097-4679(199912)55:12<1495::aid-jclp7>3.0.co;2-q
Subject(s) - psychology , psychotherapist , unconscious mind , norm (philosophy) , epistemology , psychoanalysis , philosophy
Psychotherapy research should concentrate on building up a scientifically validated, theoretical knowledge base by means of disciplined empirical research. The normal nested relationship between technology, theory, and research has not been the norm in the world of psychotherapy. Psychotherapy researchers should learn from the history of science and concentrate on building basic theory. Investigations into the causal relations underpinning psychotherapy is the best way that research can help us do psychotherapy better. These investigations must conform to the canons of inductive reasoning. Conventional use of clinical data to underwrite psychotherapeutic theory is vulnerable to Grünbaum's critique. A research proposal based on Langs' communicative approach to psychotherapy is presented predicting measurable unconscious responses to brief, time‐limited psychotherapy. © John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 55: 1495–1505, 1999.