Implications of psychotherapy research for psychotherapy training

This review article considers implications of psychotherapy research for psychotherapy training. It considers 8 themes that characterize the research literature. The themes involve outcome findings, common factors, empirically supported therapies, patient treatment matches, therapy manuals and practice guidelines, brief therapies, combinations of medication and psychotherapy, and group therapies. Each theme represents a controversial issue that has implications for the content of contemporary psychotherapy curricula. To assist trainees in becoming well-informed therapists, themes and implications such as these should be covered as part of their introduction to learning about the psychotherapies. To understand the themes and implications, as well as new findings that continually emerge from the research literature, trainees also need to be familiar with basic research methods and evaluative criteria, subjects that can also be covered as part of their introduction to the psychotherapies. As their training proceeds, research findings can be integrated with the development of their clinical skills in a broad range of psychotherapies.