What Is Effective Therapy and Why Should I Care?
At Long Island Behavioral, we emphasize the use of effective treatments, which is also referred to as evidence based practice. It is every clinician’s responsibility to use his or her best judgment in determining the course of treatment. This plan is based on a patient’s symptoms, diagnosis, and his or her personal needs. However, the best way to ensure treatment gains and positive change for patients is for clinicians to use therapeutic interventions that have the research to support their efficacy. Effective treatment relies on more than a clinician’s judgment: it also relies on data, quantifiable information, and assessments. The problem with relying only on a therapist’s subjective belief is that it is just that: subjective. Research tells us that clinicians are not great at determining when a patient’s treatment is not working based on their judgment alone. Using these objective measures in treatment acts as a check on a clinician’s judgment, giving a therapist clear data to make sure that treatment is as successful as possible.
Using effective treatments that are grounded in science and research allows us to provide the best possible care to patients. That is why it is so important that clinicians continue to keep up to date on the research and be aware of what is going on in the field. With this awareness of effective treatments, therapists can use this data together with patient preference and values to develop a solid treatment plan. Furthermore, when a therapist has a strong grounding in effective treatments, he or she can better support their patients in decision making. They can help patients understand the pros and cons of various treatment approaches, and the risks and benefits of treatment. For example, for child anxiety, there are various approaches that may be effective: engaging a child in CBT directly works well, but so do stand-alone parent sessions, such as those used in the SPACE program. A fair amount of people have heard the term “Cognitive Behavioral Theory” before, however fewer patients have heard of other adaptations to treating childhood anxiety, such as the SPACE program. When therapists are well versed in the therapies that are out there, they can serve as almost a “liaison” between the researchers and the patients. In order for a family to understand their options and choose the one that might work best for them, it is vital that professionals provide information about these evidence based treatments.
In our practice, we also rely on measurement to make clinical decisions. Before an initial session, for instance, we ask families to turn in questionnaires that can provide us with a more robust assessment of a child’s symptoms. These include measures of child anxiety, depression, and behavior problems. These measures aren’t just busy-work for families: they’re a way to first determine the problem, and then to track progress objectively. For example, in PCIT (or parent-child interaction therapy), progress is measured through coding rather than merely a clinician’s impression of improvement. This ensures that there is a quantifiable means of observing a patient’s progress throughout treatment. Only once a parent masters the skills and uses them a certain number of times within a specific time frame can treatment progress to the next phase. Otherwise, a clinician runs the risk of “rushing” the program and having results that fall short of what is possible for that family.
By staying on top of the research in the field, therapists achieve multiple goals: we can have a more comprehensive view of what works for our patients, but we can also maintain a lens of flexibility. By using objective measures in treatment, clinicians get to check their judgement against an objective standard. Keeping ourselves to these standards allows us to provide the best care possible based on our patients values and preferences.
To Read More:
https://www.mcgill.ca/psy/evidence-based-practice/definition-ebp
*This post was written by our office intern, Angelique Simeone