Vom Sinn des Verfahrenskonzepts und der Verfahrensvielfalt – und warum das Baukasten-System in der Psychotherapie nicht funktioniert

Originalbeiträge (Originals). Network meta-analysis: science or alchemy? –What works best in generalized anxiety disorder?

Recently Papola et al. (2023) published a network meta-analysis (NMA) on psychotherapy of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and concluded that cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) should be considered the first-line treatment for GAD. However, there are several concerns with regard to the procedures and the conclusions of this NMA and of NMA in general. We show that these concerns question the conclusions by Papola et al. Furthermore, we place concerns about thisNMAin a broader context and question whether existing evidence is consistent with the notion that one form of psychotherapy can be regarded as the gold standard for mental disorders and for all patients and therapists.

More than one way home - Student raters' impressions of interventions and group processes in mentalisation based group psychotherapy and group analytic psychotherapy

In a study comparing mentalisation-based group therapy (MBT-G) and group analytic psychotherapy (GAP) in a day clinic, both group psychotherapy forms were found to be highly effective. But how did specific interventions and processes in both groups differ? The present article describes student raters impressions. Twelve psychology students listened to 100 audio recordings of 90 minutes group psychotherapy sessions of GAP and MBT-G. Each session was randomly assigned to two student raters, who were asked to write down their impressions. These were analysed. Group conductors in MBT-G used more questions, had short shares of speech, used group dynamics and fostered multiple perspectives on issues discussed. Affect perception was stimulated by asking questions. In PDGT, conductors used more interpretations, confrontations and supportive interventions, and they had longer shared of speech. Handling of affects was based on 'allowing to get infected'. Discussion. It is hypothesized that symptom reduction in both groups occurred via different ways: in GAP the pathic (affective contagion) function of interactions was more relevant, while in MBT-G it was the phatic (contact keeping) function. Results are also discussed in relation to previous findings on group processes and interventions.

Development of Three Psychology Sub-Disciplines Over the Past 30 Years: A Citation Analysis

At the end of the last century, there was a debate about whether cognitive psychology had superseded behavioral psychology and psychoanalysis, and the question was raised of whether the latter two might even be dead. The aim of this study was to investigate how these sub-disciplines have developed since then. The citation count, Journal Impact Factor (JIF), and Immediacy Index of four leading journals from each sub-discipline were abstracted for the years 1998, 2008, and 2018. Trends were analyzed using joinpoint regression analysis. The average number of times each sub-discipline’s journals were cited increased between 1988 and 2018. The cognitive journals’ JIF increased slightly, the behavioral journals’ doubled, and the psychoanalytic journals’ remained at the same level. The average annual percentage change for citations to the International Journal of Psychoanalysis showed that the number of citations statistically significantly increased over the years. This was also the case for the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis. Its JIF trend changed at one point: it decreased up through 2006, after which it increased. Citations to Cognitive Psychology also increased over time, while there was no evidence that its JIF changed. This shows that all three sub-disciplines are still alive and relevant.