WHAT IS THE SCIENTIFIC MEANING OF EMPIRICALLY SUPPORTED THERAPY

It is important to define precisely what is and is not meant by ''empi rically supported treatments,'' rigorously based on what is actually k nown about the nature of experimental therapy research, The criteria f or empirically supported treatments merely allow conclusions about whe ther treatments cause any change beyond the causative effect of such f actors as placebo or the passage of time, Applied implications are lim ited, due to external validity and to the fact that applied decisions are influenced by cost-benefit analyses. Creating increasingly effecti ve therapies through between-group designs is best done by controlled trials specifically aimed at basic questions about the nature of psych ological problems and the nature of therapeutic change mechanisms. Nat uralistic research is important for external validity but is valuable only if it uses scientifically valid methods to address basic knowledg e questions.