Rapid Change and Clinical Empiricism

Abstract

The commentaries and criticisms of Karlin (2006) and Chaves (2006) are gratefully acknowledged. Both writers address the question of why clinicians adopt some techniques and eschew others. Clinicians who have experienced the ability of powerful psychotherapeutic techniques to produce rapid and substantial clinical change set that as their standard and measure their performance by it from session to session. Even in clinical domains with a relatively stable evidence base, responsible clinical practice will require therapists to be continually self-critical and self-correcting.