| Abstract: | Psychoanalytic therapy research can be divided into 4 generations, marked by increasing conceptual sophistication and technological enhancement. The 1st generation (1917–1968) comprised simple retrospective counts of improved outcomes by unspecified criteria. The 2nd generation (1959–1985) consisted of 2 kinds: (1) prospective group-aggregated studies of psychoanalytic treatments, with specified definitions, operationalized criteria, and predictions to expected outcomes, and (2) individually studied outcomes in a sequence of patients. The 3rd generation (1954–1986) combined both kinds of 2nd-generation studies with the added feature of separating outcomes at termination from the more enduring effects at subsequent follow-up. The 4th, current generation (1970s–) adds in microanalytic process studies made possible by recent technological advances-audiotapes, combined with computer searches. Programs are currently being fashioned to combine these ongoing process studies with the best outcome measures in order to realize the principle of Patient-Treatment-Outcome Congruence, the representation of the patient's illness, the treatment process, and assessed outcome in comparable terms. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
