[Efficiency factors in psychotherapy--specific and nonspecific influences]

The effectiveness of psychotherapy is discussed especially concerning the problem of specific versus unspecific factors and their possible interdependence. After a critical review of the results of the evaluation research some important paradigmatic papers on the differential operation of psychotherapeutic methods were evaluated. As there are no doubts that psychotherapy is effective in general even if it was performed by untrained therapist the impact of the specific and the unspecific factors has been investigated. As a result there was no convincing proof for the efficiency of specific factors in psychotherapy. As a consequence the unspecific factors have to be considered as highly effective in psychotherapy. Some models of the relationship factors were demonstrated and discussed.