Fundamentally, counseling and therapies of all species are intimate, humanistic encounters between sufferers and healers. A variety of societal impingements on practitioners (e.g., the need to contain burgeoning health care costs via “sustainable growth rates,” limitations on the number of treatment sessions authorized by managed care companies, increasing government regulations, ethical standards, hundreds of “schools” of psychotherapy espousing efficacy) and a growing body of supportive research have resulted in an increased attention to and demand for the use of evidence-based psychological practices that can potentially undermine the fundamental underpinnings of counseling and psychotherapy. This article proposes that care and caution need to be exercised in the rush to evidence-based psychological practices as a “solution” to the concerns noted. In turn, what is advocated in helping others to become effective and compassionate practitioners is a need for an organizing principle, that is, specifically teaching/learning to think in nonlinear ways in conjunction with already well-established empirically determined common factor principles of effective treatment.
American Psychological Association Commission on Accreditation. (2007). Guidelines and principles for accreditation of programs in professional psychology; Accreditation operating procedures of the Commission on Accreditation. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
2.
American Psychological Association. Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice. (2006). Evidence-based practice in psychology. American Psychologist, 61, 271-285.
3.
BarlowD. H. (2010). Negative effects from psychological treatments. American Psychologist, 65, 13-20.
4.
BeutlerL. E.MoleiroC. M.TalebiH. (2002). Resistance. In NorcrossJ. C. (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patient needs (pp. 2401-2421). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
5.
BradshawJ. (2009). San Antonio summit stresses need for practice to adapt to changing markets. The National Psychologist, 18, 1-4.
6.
BrehmJ. W. (1966). A theory of psychological reactance. New York, NY: Academic Press.
7.
BrehmS. S.BrehmJ. W. (1981). Psychological reactance: A theory of freedom and control. New York, NY: Academic Press.
8.
CainD. J. (2007). What every therapist should know, be and do: Contributions from humanistic psychotherapies. Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy, 37, 3-10.
9.
CainD. J.SeemanE. (2001). Humanistic psychotherapies: Handbook of research and practice (pp. 3-54). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
10.
CastonguayL. G.BoswellJ. F.ConstantinoM. J.GoldfriedM. R.HillC. E. (2010). Training implications of harmful effects of psychological treatments. American Psychologist, 65, 34-50.
11.
CoreyG. (2005). Theory and practice of counseling and psychotherapy. Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks/Cole.
12.
De BonoE. (1994). Debono’s thinking course. New York, NY: Facts on File.
13.
DimidjianS.HollonS. D. (2010). How would we know if psychotherapy were harmful. American Psychologist, 65, 21-33.
14.
DuncanB. L.MillerS. D.SparksJ. A. (2004). The heroic client: A revolutionary way to improve effectiveness through client-directed, outcome-informed therapy (rev. ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
15.
DuncanB. L.MillerS. D.WampoldB. E.HubbleM. A. (2010). The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
16.
ElkinsD. N. (2007). Empirically supported treatments: The deconstruction of a myth. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 47, 474-500.
17.
ElkinsD. N. (2008). Short-term, linear approaches to psychotherapy: What we now know. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 48, 413-431.
18.
ElkinsD. N. (2009). The medical model in psychotherapy: Its limitations and failures. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 49, 66-84.
19.
EmerickJ. J. (1997). Be the person you want to be: Harness the power of neuro-linguistic programming to reach you potential. Rocklin, CA: Prima.
20.
FarberE. W. (2010). Humanistic–existential psychotherapy competencies and the supervisory process. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice Training, 47, 28-34.
21.
FauthJ.GatesS.VincaM. A.BolesS. (2002). Big ideas for psychotherapy training. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice Training, 44, 384-391.
22.
FraserJ. S.SoloveyA. D. (2007). Second-order change in psychotherapy: The golden thread that unifies effective treatments. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
23.
GarbH. (1989). Clinical judgment, clinical training, and professional experience. Psychological Bulletin, 105, 387-396.
24.
GarbH. (1998). Studying the clinician: Judgment research and psychological assessment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
25.
GroopmanP.HartzbandP. (2009, April8). Why quality care is dangerous. The Wall Street Journal, p. A13.
26.
HaleyJ. (1963). Strategies of psychotherapy. New York, NY: Grune & Stratton.
27.
HunsleyJ. (2007a). Addressing key challenges in evidence-based practice in psychology. Professional Psychology: Research and Practice, 38, 113-121.
28.
HunsleyJ. (2007b). Training psychologists for evidence-based practice. Canadian Journal of Psychology, 1, 32-42.
29.
HunsleyJ.CrabbR.MashE. J. (2004). Evidence-based clinical assessment. The Clinical Psychologist, 57(3), 25-32.
30.
HunsleyJ.LeeC. M. (2006). Introduction to clinical psychology: An evidence-based approach. Toronto, Ontario, Canada: Wiley.
31.
JenningsL.SkovoltT. M. (1999). The cognitive, emotional, and relational characteristics of master therapists. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 46, 3-11.
32.
KazdinA. E. (2008). Evidence-based treatment and practice: New opportunities to bridge clinical research and practice, enhance the knowledge base, and improve patient care. American Psychologist, 63, 146-159.
33.
KieslerC. (2000). The next wave of change for psychology and mental health services in the health care revolution. American Psychologist, 55, 481-487.
34.
LambertM. J.BarleyD. E. (2002). Research summary on the therapeutic relationship and psychotherapy outcomes. In NorcrossJ. C. (Ed.), Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patient needs (pp. 17-32). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
35.
LambertM. J.WhippleJ. L.HawkinsE. J.VermeeschD. A.NielsenS. L.SmartD. W. (2003). Is it time for clinicians to routinely track patient outcome? A meta-analysis. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10, 288-301.
36.
LevantR. F. (2006). Making psychology a household word. American Psychologist, 61, 383-395.
37.
LuborskyL.DiguerL.SeligmanD. A.RosenthalR.KrauseE. D.JohnsonS.. . . SchweizerE. (1999). The researcher’s own therapy allegiances: A “wild card” in comparisons of treatment efficacy. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 6, 95-106.
38.
MartinS. (2009). A new day for practice. Monitor on Psychology, 40, 18-21.
39.
McCleodB. D. (2009). Understanding why therapy allegiance is linked to clinical outcomes. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 16, 69-72.
40.
McHughK. R.BarlowD. H. (2010). The dissemination and implementation of evidence-based psychological treatments: A review of current efforts. American Psychologist, 65, 73-84.
41.
MehrabianA.FerrisS. (1967). Inference and attitudes from nonverbal communication in two channels. Journal of Consulting Psychology, 31, 248-252.
42.
MillerS. D. (2004). Losing faith: Arguing for a new way to think about therapy. Psychotherapy in Australia, 10(2), 44-51.
43.
MillerS. D.DuncanB. L.HubbleM. A. (2004). Beyond integration: The triumph of outcome over process in clinical practice. Psychotherapy in Australia, 10(2), 2-19.
44.
MillerS. D.Mee-LeeD.PlumB.HubbleM. A. (2005). Making treatment count: Client-directed, outcome-informed clinical work with problem drinkers. Psychotherapy in Australia, 11(4), 42-56.
45.
MorrisonI. (1996). The second curve: Managing the velocity of change. New York, NY: Ballantine Books.
46.
MorrisonI. (2002). Healthcare in the new millennium: Vision, values and leadership. New York, NY: Jossey-Bass.
47.
MozdzierzG. J.GreenblattR. L. (1994). Technique in psychotherapy: Cautions and concerns. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research and Practice, 50, 232-249.
48.
MozdzierzG. J.LisieckiJ.BitterJ.WilliamsL. (1986). Role-functions for Adlerian therapists. Individual Psychology: The Journal of Adlerian Theory, Research and Practice, 42, 154-177.
49.
MozdzierzG. J.PelusoP.LisieckiJ. (2009). Principles of counseling and psychotherapy: The essential domains and nonlinear thinking of master practitioners. New York, NY: Routledge.
NorcrossJ. (2002). Psychotherapy relationships that work: Therapist contributions and responsiveness to patient needs. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
52.
NorcrossJ.HoganT. P.KoocherG. P. (2008a). Evidence-based practice in psychology. The Register Report, 34(Fall), 10-15.
53.
NorcrossJ.HoganT. P.KoocherG. P. (2008b). Clinician’s guide to evidence-based practices: Mental health and the addictions. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
54.
O’ConnellW. E. (1975). The goals of action therapy. In Action therapy and Adlerian theory: Selected papers by Walter E. O’Connell (pp. 62-69). Chicago, IL: Alfred Adler Institute of Chicago(reprinted from the Journal of Exentialism, Fall, 1966, 7(25).
55.
OrlinskyD. (2010). Foreward. In DuncanB. L.MillerS. D.WampoldB. E.HubbleM. A. (Eds.), The heart and soul of change: Delivering what works in therapy (2nd ed., pp. xix-xxv). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
56.
OrlinskyD.HowardK. (1977). The therapist’s experience of psychotherapy. In GurmanA. S.RazinA. M. (Eds.), Effective psychotherapy: A handbook of research (pp. 566-590). Oxford, England: Pergamon Press.
57.
ProchaskaJ. O.DiClementeC. C. (1984). Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, 20, 161-173.
58.
ProchaskaJ. O.DiClementeC. C. (2005). The transtheoretical approach. In NorcrossJ. C.GoldfriedM. R. (Eds.), Handbook of psychotherapy integration: Oxford series in clinical psychology (2nd ed., pp. 147-171). New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
59.
SatelS. (2010, February19). Prescriptions for psychiatric trouble. The Wall Street Journal, p. 13W.
60.
SchiffmanJ.BeckerK. D.DaleidenE. L. (2006). Evidence-based services in a statewide public mental health system: Do the services fit the problems?Journal of Clinical Child and Adolescent Psychology, 35, 13-19.
61.
SchneiderK. J. (2008). From segregation to integration. In SchneiderK. J. (Ed.), Existential-integrative psychotherapy: Guideposts to the core of practice (pp. 15-22). New York, NY: Routledge.
62.
SchneiderK. J.KrugO. T. (2010). Existential-humanistic therapy. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
63.
SeltzerL. (1986). Paradoxical strategies in psychotherapy: A comprehensive overview and guidebook. New York, NY: Wiley.
64.
ShedlerJ. (2010). The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. American Psychologist, 65, 98-109.
SkovholtT. M.JenningsL. (2004). Master therapists: Exploring expertise in therapy and counseling. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
67.
StickleT. R. (2006). Empirical evaluation of the utility and effectiveness of clinically flexible application in evidence-based treatments. Pragmatic Case Studies in Psychotherapy, 2(3), Article 2. Retrieved from http://hdl.rutgers.edu/1782.1/pcsp_journal
68.
WampoldB. E.BrownJ. (2005). Estimating variability in outcomes attributable to therapists: A naturalistic study of outcomes in managed care. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 73, 914-923.
69.
WatzlawickP.WeaklandJ.FischR. (1974). Change: Principles of problem formulation and problem resolution. New York, NY: W. W. Norton.
