Books and Articles on Evidence Based Counselling and Psychotherapy Practice

Evidence based practice bears on the provision of all healthcare in the UK and is included here for its particular relevance to counselling and psychotherapy.

Theory and Research in Counselling and Psychotherapy

Evidence Based Practice

BACP (2001a) Evidence Based Practice. Rugby, England: British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. [available online]

This BACP information sheet, written by Stephen Goss and Suzanna Rose, offers an excellent overview of the trend toward using real evidence to inform decisions about patient care or client services. The authors conclude that, "Those who ignore these concepts risk being regarded as biased by their prior beliefs rather than practicing in the best interest of their clients". The information sheet includes a wide range of references and pointers to several relevant websites. Also see Rose (2000).

DOH (2001) Treatment Choice in Psychological Therapies and Counselling. London: Department of Health. [available online]

This is the primary set of clinical practice guidelines shaping counselling and psychotherapy provision in the UK. The scope of the document is necessarily focused, so that while depression, anxiety and eating disorders are covered (among others), mania and bipolar disorder, drug addictions and learning difficulties are not. Also, while a wide range of evidence is reviewed, it seems unfortunate that interactions between medical treatment and psychological therapies have been left untouched -- even though a large body of evidence indicates positive interactions between the two. I.e., given that both medical treatment and psychological therapies are available under the NHS, and given that the two are not independent factors, it seems unfortunate to evaluate them entirely separately. Also see Bergin and Garfield (1994).

Rose, S. (2000) 'Evidence Based Practice: What Every Counsellor Needs to Know', Counselling 11(1): 38-40.

This short article is by one of the authors of the BACP's information sheet on the same topic (BACP 2001a).

   

This page was last reviewed by Dr Greg Mulhauser, Thursday, 14 October 2021.