Assessing the Effects of Psychotherapy

摘要

The reverence of the experimental method in psychotherapy research, even where it is pointless or unwarranted, is taken as an instance of the rhetoric function of science. The distinguishing features of an experiment, manipulation and randomization, are explicated. The vital assumption of the effect of the experimental treatment being constant among subjects is demonstrated, and it is concluded that this assumption is unwarranted, on both theoretical and empirical grounds, as applied to psychotherapy.