The psychotherapies: benefits and limitations

The promises and challenges of the psychotherapies today are explored in the areas of treatment, training, diagnosis, research, and review. Benefits discussed include advances in the science and standardization of psychotherapy assessment and practice; improved research tools for establishing therapeutic efficacy; development of new clinical modalities, especially short-term techniques; cooperative efforts to combine and integrate diverse methods of treatment; establishment of ethical codes of conduct for the therapist; and the application of computerized evaluation and cost-containment procedures. At the same time, limitations reflect the various conceptual confusions, research inadequacies, identity crises, political pressures, and economic constraints of the field. Of particular concern is the current "age of accountability" which has placed cost-effectiveness at the pivot of public policy in mental health care.