Psychotherapy—is it safe, effective, and appropriate? The beginning of an evolutionary dialogue.

Discusses efforts made by the US Congress in the late 1970's and early 1980's to explore the extent to which those seeking psychotherapeutic services could be assured that the care they would receive would be beneficial. It is contended that psychology, psychiatry, and the mental health field have presented few summary statements to guide the educated consumer or enlightened 3rd-party payers in decision making about mental health care. The mental health field is still young, and there has been insufficient time to evaluate the efficacy of all forms of therapy for all the problems for which patients/clients seek help. But the knowledge gained from clinical experience can be used in a tentative fashion to direct more rigorous empirical investigation. (12 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)