ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a review of the issues regarding empirically supported therapy (EST) and the benefits of an evidence-based approach to psychotherapy. ESTs are specific treatments, studied to assess their effectiveness with specific psychological problems or disorders. There is another term, evidence-based practice (EBP), which refers to the more general utilization of evidence to establish that treatment has an impact. This distinction is important not just as a matter of conceptual specificity but because of the field's response to ESTs, which has been mixed. There are a number of important issues regarding ESTs that have raised serious concerns from therapists, while the evolution of EBP is less controversial. There has been movement toward abstracting sets of principles for working with broader sets of problems from ESTs that provide a broader focus and allow more room for case conceptualization that help mitigate some of the criticisms of ESTs.
