Research evidence on psychotherapist skills and methods: Foreword and afterword

This article serves as both the foreword and the afterword to the special section of Psychotherapy Research devoted to research reviews of psychotherapist skills and methods: it introduces the interorganizational Task Force that guided the reviews and then features its conclusions. We begin by operationally defining therapist skills and methods and then contrasting them with other components of psychotherapy. Next, we consider the typical assessment of skills and methods and how they are linked with outcomes (immediate in-session, intermediate, and distal) in the research literature. We summarize the strength of the research evidence on the skills and methods reviewed in the 8 articles in this special section and in the companion special issue in Psychotherapy. We end with diversity considerations, research limitations, and the formal conclusions of the interorganizational Task Force on Psychotherapy Skills and Methods that Work.