Are All Psychotherapies Created Equal Critique - Essay Example

? Critical analysis of an article This essay seeks to carry out critical analysis of an article en d Are All Psychotherapies Created Equal? The essay sets out to discuss what the article is about, the issues raised and my response to the content and the way the author has presented the article. In addition, the essay will explain whether there is any background information to consider if there is any evidence presented. Moreover, the essay will focus on whether the language used is influenced by the where it has been published or its audience. Furthermore, the essay will highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the article and the additional research I would do if I wanted to investigate further. The article is about whether all psychotherapies that exist to address the problems faced by clients are equal. The essay talks about the various considerations that clients make before choosing a therapist to assist them deal with their problems. The article also talks about the various psychotherapies that exist, their impacts on the client, and the suitability of the various therapies in addressing diverse issues faced by clients. The article also focuses on the effectiveness of the therapies in relation to the problems that clients may be experiencing. The article also talks about the many number of psychotherapies that exist, about 500 categories of psychotherapy. In the article, there is a focus on the approaches used by therapists most frequently. The commonly used psychotherapies include cognitive behaviour therapy, behaviour therapy, psychodynamic therapy, person-centred therapy, and interpersonal therapy. The article raises the issue of the Tale of the Dodo Bird, with therapists arguing that all therapies are equally similar with regard to how they work. Saul Rosenzweig, a psychologist at the Washington University, came up with the Dodo Bird Verdict. As explained in the article, the Dodo Bird Verdict implies that all therapies can be termed as equivalent in terms of their effects. The article also states that there tends to be minimal differences in the effectiveness of the treatments using various approaches. The various approaches to psychotherapy have certain features that are core to the treatment of the client. The article also deals with the fact that all psychotherapies clearly state the role to be played by both the client and the therapist in the therapeutic engagement. Various elements that make up effective therapy are also discussed in the article. These elements include empathy on the client’s part, shared goals that will enhance the therapy, and considerable rapport between the client and the practitioner. In my opinion, the content that the article is relevant to the core issues in question and it offers a clear explanation on whether all psychotherapies can be regarded as equal. The content of the article also centres on the outcome of using various psychotherapeutic approaches in dealing with clients’ problems. The content of the article also critically evaluates the topic in question. The authors present the content in a way that addresses both sides of the phenomenon under discussion. The authors contend that all methods of psychotherapy may not be equally effective, despite the fact that many researchers are of the opinion that there are common factors in psychotherapy. There may be differences in the way the therapies operate, and the outcome may portray differences in effectiveness. The content of the article also gives an in-depth and comprehensive discussion regarding whether all psychotherapies are equal. This is presented through the elaborate discussions centring on the common elements applicable in almost all psychotherapies. The article gives the core ingredients and requirements that apply in almost all psychotherapies. The presentation of the article can also be termed as satisfactory to readers, as it dwells on the various therapies and specificity with which they can be used to address clients’ problems. The authors acknowledge that clients face diverse problems, prompting a therapist to use the approach that will best address a client’s problems. On this regard, therefore, the article presents the diverse options and approaches in psychotherapy, which depend on the problem that the client has (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2012). There is background information to consider in the article, as previous research studied conducted on the topic are presented by the authors. The writing equips the reader with information regarding the topic under study; for example, the authors have cited the research carried out at Washington University in 1936. Background information is also provided when the authors talk about the research conducted at the University of Pennsylvania in 1975. The inclusion of studies conducted at the University of Wisconsin also provides background information about the topic under study (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2012). There is a lot of evidence presented in the article with regard to the topic. For example, the survey conducted in 2006 by Charles Bisvert, a psychologist at Rhode Island College and David Faust of the University of Rhode Island provide evidence that all therapies are nearly the same. The studies by Saul and Lester also provide evidence that reinforces the subject matter of the article (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2012). The language used in the article is largely influenced by the audience who the authors want to target. The article contains language that is supposed to address the readers and instil insights in them about the various approaches used in psychotherapy. The language of the article addresses the audience with a lot of clarity and specifies the similarities between therapies. The authors use a language that tells both clients and therapists how they ought to approach psychotherapy (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2012). The strengths of the article include the fact that the discussion presented by the authors is reasonable, balanced, and it provides an understanding on the topic. The authors also explore the topic broadly and come up with convincing answers and arguments. The other strength of the article is that it discusses the appropriateness of therapy with regard to the problems faced by the client. However, there are some weaknesses present in the article. One of the weaknesses is that the article does not give an explanation of what makes a therapy be considered successful (Arkowitz & Lilienfeld, 2012). In addition, the article does not include some of the parameters that can be used to measure the effectiveness of the therapy used. If I wanted to carry out further investigation, I could have done additional research centring on the relationship between the various psychotherapies and elements such as human behaviour, cognition, and the human mind. I could have also included how the various psychotherapies apply to different human problems, with an emphasis on which psychotherapy applies to which problems. The other additional research I might do would centre on the weaknesses and effectiveness of the various approaches in addressing the clients’ problems. References List Arkowitz, H. & Lilienfeld, S. O. (2012). Are All Psychotherapies Created Equal? Available online at http://goo.gl/ZW48v (Accessed 13 October 2012). Read More