Posted by Ilene on July 27, 2004, at 17:32:52
In reply to Re: scientific research » Ilene, posted by pegasus on July 27, 2004, at 14:42:45
> Yes, absolutely, it's nice to have proof, if you can get it. I'm just saying that if you limit yourself to pursuing treatments that are "proven" to be effective, then you might miss something that would be effective that hasn't been proven. Which is a shame if the treatments that do have proof don't happen to work in your particular case. Because it's notoriously difficult to study psychological treatments (because of the internal and subjective nature of most of the processes and results), most available treatments don't have scientific proof to back them up.
>That makes it terribly difficult to decide whether to start psychotherapy and what kind of therapist to look for.
> Also, as a scientist, I'd like to point out that scientific proof is a rare and elusive beast. Most research is limited in scope and applicable only to the narrow conditions included in the particular study. Most research only points in particular directions, rather than proving anything.
>CBT is supposedly the only kind that's been shown to work. I don't know if that's because it's fairly structured, so it's easier to quantify, because it just happens to have been studied more, whether it actually is superior, or for other reasons. There are certainly people who have "failed" CBT, or rather, CBT has failed them.
> Personally, I've had great results with types of treatments that do not have scientific proof backing them up. And yet, I think we all need to make that call for ourselves. If you think it's best to rely only on proven treatments, then that is definitely what you should do, and I wholeheartedly support that. Just realize that there may be valid reasons for others to make other decisions.
>How did you decide on those treatments?
Of course I realize that other people have their own criteria for making decisions, but I think it's important to be an educated consumer. I'm the person who always reads Consumer Reports before buying anything. I read opposing political opinions, too.
poster:Ilene
thread:368898
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/psycho/20040723/msgs/371338.html