ABSTRACT
The central question addressed in this book is: In the field of psychotherapy, what works for children, adolescents, and adults? To answer this question, a wide-ranging review of scientific evidence concerning the effectiveness of psychotherapy is presented. The evidence reviewed shows, unequivocally, that psychotherapy and psychological interventions are effective in helping children, adolescents, adults, and people in later life, with a wide range of psychological difficulties. The review demonstrates that the evidence base for psychotherapy and psychological interventions is a large rigorous body of scientific work, which has clear implications for practice, policy and future research. The implications of the current psychotherapy evidence base for future research and policy is considered in Chapter 7. The main concern of this book, and a central theme of Chapters 2 to 6, is articulating the clinical practice implications of the results of research on psychotherapy and psychological interventions. As a preamble to addressing this central issue, some introductory comments will be offered in this chapter on psychotherapy, the process of conducting psychotherapy research, and ways in which research results can be used to inform practice. These comments are offered to answer such questions as: What is psychotherapy? What is psychotherapy research? How can the results of psychotherapy research be used to inform clinical practice?
