BEHAVIOR-THERAPY VERSUS PLACEBO - COMMENT ON BOWERS AND CLUM META-ANALYSIS

This article evaluates a meta-analysis of 69 studies of behavior therapy versus placebos reported by Bowers and Clum (1988). The use of meta-analysis for the evaluation of therapeutic outcome is criticized. An analysis of the subset of studies in the original article dealing with neurotic patients indicates that none of the studies provided evidence for the benefits of behavior therapy that meet the criteria of significant improvement on a heteromethod set of outcome measures that is maintained at follow-up assessment.