How many psychotherapies are in the world?

Vol.4,No.1(2010)

Abstract

In our article we present the result of an attempt to generate a widely recognized list of psychotherapy modalities, based on criteria interconnecting recent research outcomes, practise-based evidence, relevant scientific literature, and guidelines of influential institutions in the field. At the beginning we mention various estimations of the sum of recognized psychotherapy approaches in diverse resources. Our study attempts to add a provisional list of them as a platform for further discussion with emphasizing the transparency of our criteria. Some of the criteria on the basis of which varied treatment modalities have been included are as follows: (1) The treatment has been recognized by the European Association for Psychotherapy and/or influential bodies in significant EU countries like the UK; (2) The treatment is included in the list of Empirically Supported Treatments; (3) The approach has been mentioned in several influential publications in the field; (4) Articles focusing on the approach have been published in scientific journals, e.g. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training and others, taking into account approximately 1294 journal abstracts. We predict some further steps in the field, particularly the need of giving some guidelines for establishing of clusters of therapies.


Keywords:
approach; criteria; list of therapies; model; technique
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