ABSTRACT
The standard for research in psychotherapy, as well as in medicine the so-called gold standard is represented by randomized clinical trials (RCTs). RCTs are a very powerful tool employed by researchers to establish a linear causality between two events: the administration of a treatment and the outcome of this treatment in patients who received it. Many variables come into play which determine and influence the efficacy of psychotherapeutic treatment; most of them have nothing to do with the treatment protocol or with the type of treatment provided. The purpose of this discussion on the limits of the RCT experimental design is not to belittle the value of RCTs. The control treatment was performed by the same therapists. The treatment model is relatively flexible, simple, and accessible in terms of both time and commitment for nearly all patients.
