The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy

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The effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy (cognitive behavioral therapy) Introduction Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is a form of psychotherapy. The effectiveness has been researched extensively over the years (Dobson, 2001). There are over three hundred published studies about the outcomes of cognitive behavioral therapy interventions. The main reason for this is that an ongoing adaptation of this form of psychotherapy makes it applicable to a vast amount of disorders and related problems (Rounsaville & Caroll, 2002). Despite the relatively great amount of studies on the effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy, questions still remain about the levels of effectiveness for different disorders, about the effects of cognitive behavioral therapy on the longer term, and about the set up of the different studies on cognitive behavioral therapyin proving its effectiveness. Meta-analyses can give answers to these and related questions. For some researchers, the importance of meta-analyses on cognitive behavioral therapy is clear, since it can give insight in the comparison on the treatment of different disorders with cognitive behavioral therapy (Rounsaville & Caroll, 2002). For others however, the importance of meta-analyses is not so clear; they state a meta-analysis cannot tell whether one form of psychotherapy is better than another. The main reason is that at least several aspects must be kept constant in an empirical research. Since the effectiveness is studies for different disorders, also several kinds of research methods are used. Comparisons are difficult to make, just as drawing a realiable conclusio. (Parker, Roy & Eyers, 2003). A logical alternative is to determine the effectiveness of cognitive behavio... ... middle of paper ... ...r the therapy will help every person with that form of the disorder. The same holds for other disorders. It would be better to determine per individual the amount of time for the therapy. But whether or not this is done, this is not clear in the studies discussed in this paper. Conclusion The conclusion is that cognitive behavioral therapy is moderately to very effective in the treatment of depression, generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, and schizophrenia. Some effects however increase by using additional therapies for the treatment. Still questions remain about several aspects of the therapy and the conducted research. This research was however limited in several ways; therefore only a general conclusion about the positive effectiveness of cognitive behavioral therapy related to the mentioned disorders can be drawn.

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