At 8:31 AM -0600 3/27/00, Rick Froman wrote:>I had a student tell me a
similar thing about psychotherapy. I was
>trying to communicate the importance of objective studies of
>psychotherapeutic effectiveness since both the client and the
>therapist have obvious biases in the direction of claiming that the
>therapy works. The student responded,
>
>"Well, I know the clinician and patient will both be bias, but that
>doesn't change the fact that to them it was a success and is that
>not what the goal was....to alleviate a problem or give them a
>personal victory over a problem? I think this is no different than
>anything else, if it works...it works. If someone is diagnosed with
>cancer and with medication goes into recession, it is considered
>successful for a that period of time and the patient is grateful for it.
>If it reoccurs, the patient was still given a reprieve from the horrible
>condition and I think psychology is no different. Psychology for an
>individual is based on just that...the individual and if you feel like it
>is fixed and you are relieved from the problem you had...whether it
>is from the actual therapy or just the "thought of the therapy"...I
>think that makes success."
>
>I guess you can't argue with success.
or ignorance.
* PAUL K. BRANDON [EMAIL PROTECTED] *
* Psychology Dept Minnesota State University, Mankato *
* 23 Armstrong Hall, Mankato, MN 56001 ph 507-389-6217 *
* http://www.mankato.msus.edu/dept/psych/welcome.html *
