The generic model of psychotherapy: An empirical investigation of patterns of process and outcome relationships

Abstract

What is effectively therapeutic about psychotherapy? The generic model of psychotherapy provides an empirically valid conceptual representation of psychotherapy process and outcome relationships that begins to answer this question. It provides a theoretical foundation from which research investigating complex process-outcome relationships common to all psychotherapies can proceed. Moreover, the generic model is of sufficient breadth to direct empirical investigations of general principles of psychotherapeutic change. At the same time, it is of sufficient specificity to guide research that has relevance for the practicing clinician. The findings reported here also demonstrate the utility of the generic model for guiding exploratory psychotherapy research that aims to identify emerging patterns of relationships between process and outcome.