Client, Therapist, and Treatment Variables
Consideration of the client–therapist match as a contributor, predictor, and optimizer of therapeutic change is not new in the behavioral health field. Indeed, it has evolved from two interactive and co-acting histories: (a) changing practices in psychotherapy research and (b) corresponding changes in the way that clinicians have viewed the role of theory in their practices. In the past three and a half decades, research emphasis has changed to increasingly reflect the roles played by client diagnoses, brands of interventions, and the theories that underlie their use. This chapter reviews the history of psychotherapy research and randomized controlled trials (RCTs). It then describes a contemporary view of RCT design that attempts to incorporate contemporary research developments that are bringing together research and practice.