Time-limited brief therapy has gone too far: The result is invisible rationing

Proponents of managed care endorse time-limited brief treatment on the belief that time limits result in little or no harm to psychotherapy outcome. However, the research findings cited as favorable to time limits are based on erroneously classified research, and the related research is incorrectly interpreted. Properly classified and interpreted, the research indicates that time-limited therapy is in fact inferior to clinically determined treatment. Both research and reason indicate that time-limited therapy is not an equally effective alternative treatment but merely a form of rationing. Although rationing may be necessary, when time-limited therapy is promoted as equivalent to clinically determined treatment, the consumer is often unaware of the rationing. The result is the ethically questionable practice of invisible rationing.