Daniel David1, Ioana Cristea2
daniel.david @ubbcluj.ro
1 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, International Institute for Advanced Study in Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health at Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania;
Department of Population Health Sciences and Policy at Icahn School of
Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States
2 Department of Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, International Institute for Advanced Study in Psychotherapy and Applied Mental Health at Babes- Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Abstract
In this metareview, we argue that in the era of the evidence-based health practice, cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is the gold standard in psychotherapy for several reasons: (1) it is the most researched form of psychotherapy; (2) overall, no psychotherapy has proven superior to CBT; on the contrary, if there are differences, typically they favor CBT; and (3) its theories and mechanisms of change are both the most investigated and supported in psychotherapy and the best aligned with mainstream general psychological theories (e.g., learning theories, information processing) and related fields (e.g., neurogenetics). However, there is room for improvement, both in terms of CBT’s efficacy/effectiveness and in terms of its underlying theories/mechanisms of change. It is argued that a movement towards an Integrative and Multimodal CBT (IM-CBT) could consolidate the gold standard status of CBT and perhaps even contribute to its enhancement, based on higher standards of research-suport. Although some colleagues argue that the plurality in psychotherapy could be an option for development (i.e., by encouraging all psychotherapy approaches to follow the CBT model in relationship to the evidence-based movement), we argue for the alternative of having a scientific integrated psychotherapy. IM-CBT could serve as a platform for psychotherapy integration, thus moving the current fragmented field of psychotherapy to a scientific integrated psychotherapy (i.e., Integrative and Multimodal Psychotherapy).
Keywords: Integrative and Multimodal CBT (IM-CBT), gold standard, scientific integrated psychotherapy, plurality, metareview
Doi: 10.24193/jebp.2018.2.11
Published online: 2018/09/01
Published print: 2018/09/01
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