Abstract
Psychotherapy experiments with placebo controls are modeled after precedents in chemotherapy research. In chemotherapy research, treatments and therapists are independent factors. Since it is possible to keep chemotherapists blind, causality can be attributed to treatment independently of the contaminating influence of therapist states and traits. In contrast, in psychotherapy research, the treatment delivered is identical to and inseparable from the treatment-delivery process. Since psychotherapists cannot be kept unaware of the treatment delivered, therapist states are inherently confounded with the treatments delivered. This confounding questions the utility of placebo groups in psychotherapy and calls for a redefinition of psychotherapy artifacts.
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Wilkins, W. Therapy—therapist confounds in psychotherapy research. Cogn Ther Res 10, 3–11 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173378
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01173378