House of cards: Psychology and psychotherapy built on myth
New York, 1994
Abstract
Dawes points out the fallacy in many commonly held beliefs in therapy and takes issue with many current treatment methods.
Quotes from this work
Smith and Glass’s meta-analysis not only presented impressive evidence about the efficacy of psychotherapy; it concluded that three factors that most psychologists believed influenced this efficacy actually did not influence it.
First, they discovered that the therapists’ credentials—Ph.D., M.D., or no advanced degree—and experience were /un/related to the effectiveness of therapy.
Second, they discovered that the type of therapy given was /un/related to its effectiveness, with the possible exception of behavioral techniques, which seemed superior for well-circumscribed behavioral problems. They also discovered that length of therapy was unrelated to its success.
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