ABSTRACT
This book asserts that there is a need for an urgent paradigm shift in how we conduct research into time-limited psychotherapy. This is not solely a concern of child psychotherapists, but also of the larger professional group of mental health practitioners. As mentioned earlier, the British Psychological Society presented a challenge to the authors of the DSM (V) (American Psychiatric Association, 2013), criticising the predominant ‘medicalisation’ disease model of distress in both children and adults. As part of creating a paradigm shift, we must be clear about who the benefi ciaries are of research that follows a symptom-based medicalised model that exclusively utilises the randomised controlled trial. We need to ask questions about whether the ‘evidence’ thereby derived, is ultimately in the best interests of children and young people.
