How effective is the treatment?

PSYCHOTEHRAPY IS HIGHLY EFFECTIVE: Overall psychotherapeutic methods (psychoanalysis, psychoanalytic psychotherapy) have a response rate of approximately 80 percent (i.e. roughly 8 out of 10 people report improvements after psychotherapy) and all psychotherapeutic methods produce similar beneficial effects [1-3].  The most important influence on treatment efficacy, aside from the personalities of the client and the therapist, is the relationship (therapeutic alliance) between the client and therapist [1, 2].

PSYCHOANALYSIS PRODUCES GREATER AND LONGER LASTING BENEFITS THAN OTHER METHODS. Studies have shown that 3 to 10 years after therapy clients who underwent psychoanalysis showed better personal and social functioning than those treated with other long-term psychotherapeutic methods [4-7].

QUALITY OF LIFE CONTINUES TO IMPROVE ONCE PSYCHOANALYSIS HAS ENDED. Apart from the fact that psychoanalytic psychotherapy is similarly effective when compared with other psychotherapeutic methods [1, 8], many clients choose psychoanalytic psychotherapy because it enhances quality of life in the long run [4, 9, 10]. Studies have shown the positive effects of psychoanalytic psychotherapy are enduring and that clients continue to improve after treatment has finished [11].

THE VARIOUS PSYCHOTEHRAPEUTIC METHODS ARE SIMILARLY EFFECTIVE. Although some studies have suggested that psychoanalytic psychotherapy is the best treatment for depression [12] whereas cognitive behavioral psychotherapy is the best treatment for bulimia [13], most studies indicate that all psychotherapeutic methods have similar effectiveness [1, 2, 14].

NOTE ON EFFECTIVENESS AND PUBLIC REVIEWS: Research evidence shows that psychotherapy is effective, while also confirming that its benefits always depend on the individual person, their specific difficulties, the therapeutic relationship, and the context in which therapy takes place. For this reason, the effectiveness of therapy cannot be reduced to a single number nor generalized.

Public ratings and reviews (for example, on Google) reflect the subjective experiences of some clients at a particular point in time. They may serve as a useful orienting signal, but they do not represent an objective measure of the quality of therapeutic work, nor do they guarantee that the same therapeutic approach will be suitable for everyone or lead to the same degree of change and improvement.

The professional quality of psychotherapy is supported in the long term primarily by the therapist’s education, clinical experience, supervision, and ongoing engagement with current research findings. Ultimately, the most reliable way to determine whether a therapeutic approach is helpful for a particular person remains personal experience within the therapeutic process.

Sources and literature:

  1. Wampold, B.E. and Z.E. Imel, The great psychotherapy debate: The evidence for what makes psychotherapy work. 2015: Routledge.
  2. Norcross, J.C. and M.J. Lambert, Psychotherapy relationships that work II. Psychotherapy, 2011. 48(1): p. 4.
  3. Lambert, M.J., Bergin and Garfield’s handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change. 2013: John Wiley & Sons.
  4. Lindfors, O., et al., Effectiveness of psychoanalysis and long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy 10 years after start of treatment. European Psychiatry, 2017. 41: p. S263.
  5. Knekt, P., et al., Quasi-experimental study on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis, long-term and short-term psychotherapy on psychiatric symptoms, work ability and functional capacity during a 5-year follow-up. Journal of Affective Disorders, 2011. 132(1): p. 37-47.
  6. Sandell, R., et al., Varieties of long-term outcome among patients in psychoanalysis and long-term psychotherapy: A review of findings in the Stockholm Outcome of Psychoanalysis and Psychotherapy Project (STOPPP). The International journal of psycho-analysis, 2000. 81(5): p. 921.
  7. Knekt, P., E. Heinonen, and O. Lindfors, Follow-up of the effectiveness of long-term psychodynamic psychotherapy and psychoanalysis 5 years after the end of psychoanalysis: Minor differences in psychiatric symptoms and work ability. Neurology, Psychiatry and Brain Research, 2018. 30: p. 163-166.
  8. Driessen, E., et al., Cognitive Behavioral Therapy versus Short Psychodynamic Supportive Psychotherapy in the outpatient treatment of depression: a randomized controlled trial. BMC psychiatry, 2007. 7(1): p. 58.
  9. de Maat, S., et al., The effectiveness of long-term psychoanalytic therapy: A systematic review of empirical studies. Harvard review of psychiatry, 2009. 17(1): p. 1-23.
  10. Fonagy, P., et al., Pragmatic randomized controlled trial of long‐term psychoanalytic psychotherapy for treatment‐resistant depression: the Tavistock Adult Depression Study (TADS). World Psychiatry, 2015. 14(3): p. 312-321.
  11. Shedler, J., The efficacy of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Am Psychol, 2010. 65(2): p. 98-109.
  12. Huber, D., et al., Comparison of cognitive-behaviour therapy with psychoanalytic and psychodynamic therapy for depressed patients – a three-year follow-up study. Z Psychosom Med Psychother, 2012. 58(3): p. 299-316.
  13. Poulsen, S., et al., A randomized controlled trial of psychoanalytic psychotherapy or cognitive-behavioral therapy for bulimia nervosa. Am J Psychiatry, 2014. 171(1): p. 109-16.
  14. Gibbons, M.B.C., et al., Comparative effectiveness of cognitive therapy and dynamic psychotherapy for major depressive disorder in a community mental health setting: a randomized clinical noninferiority trial. JAMA psychiatry, 2016. 73(9): p. 904-912.