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June 12, 2015A new treatment for pain management
June 12, 2015Some facts about psychological treatment and psychotherapy:
- The average treated person is better off than 80% of those without the benefit of treatment. Clinical trials show that psychological treatment is more effective than medication for anxiety and depression in many cases.
- Therapy works because of general factors present in all types of psychological treatment. The client’s level of engagement or what is known as the therapeutic alliance is the most potent predictor of change in therapy.
- Treatment Model or techniques e.g. CBT or psychoanalytic therapy or relaxation techniques only account for1-4% of treatment effects even though these are what most psychologists spend years of training on learning and perfecting.
- The main problem in counselling or psychotherapy is the inability to identify clients at risk of dropping out of therapy and or deteriorating or not benefiting whilst in therapy
- The latest outcome studies indicate that the most effective therapists work harder than their counterparts in seeking and maintaining client engagement as well as improving their practice
- Most therapists or psychologists do not know how effective they are and do not routinely measure their effectiveness through feedback from their client. Studies have showed that therapists routinely overestimate their effectiveness
- Routinely monitoring the impact of the impact of therapy/counselling can decrease dropout rates by half and double the effectiveness of the counselling (Miller, 2011)
What does this mean at Psychology on Parade?
We routinely elicit feedback from our clients about the effectiveness of treatment through outcome measures or questionnaires about their overall well being personally, socially and in their family situation to ascertain whether they are improving as a result of counselling.
We also routinely elicit feedback from our clients about how sessions are going for them: questions include whether the relationship with the psychologist is working for them, whether the goals and topics and overall method or approach are helping them. This improves collaboration with the client on what they are attending counselling for and progress towards their goals.
All our psychologists routinely review their treatment of individual clients with their peers. Deliberate and reflective psychological practice is our overall approach to our work. This is a form of quality assurance but also enhances the overall outcomes for our clients.