The pursuit of consensus in psychotherapy research and practice

With the growing pressures from managed cam and biological psychiatry to demonstrate the clinical effectiveness of psychosocial interventions, the field has attempted to arrive at a consensus about which treatments work for whom. Although it is essential for the practice of psychotherapy to have an empirical base, the issue is complicated by existing methodological constraints that can limit the clinical generalizability of our research finding. Within this context, this article comments on the role of therapy manuals in research and practice, the difficulties associated with reaching a consensus within the field, and the need to involve both clinicians and researchers in such efforts.