Treatment FAQ

what are some of the nonspecific treatment factors

by Prof. Hal Miller MD Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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List of nonspecific factors

  • Client outcome expectancies
  • Inculcation of hope
  • Remoralization

All three non-specific treatment factors, therapeutic alliance, therapist competence and adherence to the specific treatment modality, contribute significantly to treatment outcome and may account for more of the variance in outcome than specific treatment approach.

Full Answer

What are the non-specific treatment factors that influence treatment outcome?

All three non-specific treatment factors, therapeutic alliance, therapist competence and adherence to the specific treatment modality, contribute significantly to treatment outcome and may account for more of the variance in outcome than specific treatment approach. Consequently, these factors need to be considered in the design of psychotherapy studies.

What is a nonspecific factor in cognitive therapy?

Nonspecific treatment factors in psychotherapy outcome research. Nonspecific treatment factors in psychotherapy outcome research. Nonspecific treatment factors in psychotherapy outcome research J Consult Clin Psychol. 1979 Oct;47(5):846-51. doi: 10.1037//0022-006x.47.5.846. ...

Are nonspecific effects of therapy outcome related to therapeutic change?

The authors provide an analysis of the nature of nonspecific treatment factors and nonspecific effects and suggest experimental procedures testing the incremental validity of specific treatments. They examine two widely promoted, prescriptive structured treatments to analyze the specificity of their clinical efficacy: eye movement ...

Is current research adequately evaluating nonspecific effects?

Some nonspecific defenses exist independently of infection (e.g., genetic factors, anatomic barriers, nonspecific inhibitors in body fluids, and phagocytosis). Others (e.g., fever, inflammation, and interferon) are produced by the host in response to infection.

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What are non-specific treatment effects?

A placebo can produce non-specific effects which are the placebo or nocebo effects (placebo effects are the positive responses, nocebo effects are the negative responses) that occur within a treatment that are not attributed to the specific effects of the treatment.

What is a nonspecific treatment?

The term nonspecific treatment factors usually refers to several, often unspecified, variables that may influence therapy outcome. The word nonspecific denotes that these factors may extend to many different techniques.

What are nonspecific treatment effects psychology?

These are the effects of an intervention that are due to something that is not specific to the intervention. Most people think of the placebo effect as the main example. Although it is true that the placebo effect is an example of a non-specific effect, not all non-specific effects are placebo.

Where are the non-specific factors that influence healing in psychotherapy?

Non-specific factors dre associated with psychotherapy. These are patient variable and therapist variable. Patient variable refers to attributed to the client, e.g., clients motivation for change and expectation of improvement due to the treatment etc.

What are common factors in psychotherapy?

The common factors include the therapeutic alliance, empathy, goal consensus and collaboration, positive regard and affirmation, mastery, congruence/genuineness, and mentalization.

Which of the following factors has been linked to the development of schizophrenia?

Research suggests schizophrenia may be caused by a change in the level of 2 neurotransmitters: dopamine and serotonin. Some studies indicate an imbalance between the 2 may be the basis of the problem. Others have found a change in the body's sensitivity to the neurotransmitters is part of the cause of schizophrenia.

What are CBT specific factors?

Specific factors relate to the particular aspects of psychotherapies derived from distinct theories and models, producing unique forms of technique and intervention. The relative contribution of these factors as predictors of outcome has been long debated (e.g. Rosenzweig, 1936).

What does nonspecific mean in science?

adj. 1. Of or relating to an infection not known to be caused by a specific pathogen: nonspecific urethritis. 2. Of or relating to immunity that occurs naturally as a result of a person's genetic makeup or physiology and does not arise from a previous infection or vaccination.

What is a nocebo response?

What is it? The nocebo effect is the opposite of the placebo effect. It describes a situation where a negative outcome occurs due to a belief that the intervention will cause harm. It is a sometimes forgotten phenomenon in the world of medicine safety. The term nocebo comes from the Latin 'to harm'.

What are the factors that contribute to healing in psychotherapy enumerate some of the alternative therapies?

Factors Contributing to Healing in PsychotherapyThe therapeutic alliance between the Therapist and client is also an important factor as the healing of the client depends on warmth and empathy provided by the Therapist.The process of complete emotional expression which is called catharsis is important for healing.More items...•

What are alternative therapies 12?

Alternative Therapy: Alternative treatment possibilities to the conventional during treatment or Psychotherapy, e.g. yoga, Meditation etc. Behaviour Therapy: Therapy based on the principles of behaviouristic learning theories in order to change the maladaptive behaviour.

What are the techniques used in the rehabilitation of mentally ill?

A person may need a combination of some of these forms of treatment: medication, therapy, counseling, hospitalization, brain stimulation treatments and psychiatric rehabilitation. Often, the lines demarcating treatment and rehabilitation may be blurred.

Jerome Frank's work

In the various editions of his book " Persuasion and Healing " Jerome Frank argued that psychotherapeutic change is predominantly due to a number of nonspecific factors which are focused by the development of the relationship between the patient and the healer.

Studies of trained vs nontrained therapists

Strupp and Hadley (1979) explored the relative contribution of therapist's technical skills and the qualities inherent in any good human relationship to outcome in time-limited individual psychotherapy.

Papers

Frank, Jerome D; Frank, Julia (2004).Therapeutic components shared by all psychotherapies. In Freeman, Arthur [Ed]; Mahoney, Michael J [Ed]; DeVito, Paul [Ed]; Martin, Donna [Ed]. Cognition and psychotherapy (2nd ed.). (pp. 45-78). xviii, 381 pp. New York, NY, US: Springer Publishing Co; US.

What are nonspecific defenses?

Most viral infections are limited by nonspecific defenses, which (1) restrict initial virus multiplication to manageable levels, (2) initiate recovery from established infections that is then completed by a combination of these early nonspecific and subsequent antigen-specific immune ...

Where do nonspecific inhibitors occur?

Nonspecific Inhibitors. A number of viral inhibitors occur naturally in most body fluids and tissues. They vary chemically (lipids, polysaccharides, proteins, lipoproteins, and glycoproteins) and in the degree of viral inhibition and types of viruses affected.

What is NCBI bookshelf?

NCBI Bookshelf. A service of the National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.

Is phagocytosis effective against viruses?

The limited information available suggests that phagocytosis is less effective against viral infections than against bacterial infections. However, few of the factors that control uptake of virions or infected cells by phagocytes and their digestion by lysosomal enzymes have been studied systemically. Different viruses are affected differently by the various phagocytic cells. Some viruses are not engulfed, whereas others are engulfed but may not be inactivated. In fact, some viruses, such as human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), may even multiply in the phagocytes (e.g., macrophages), which may serve as a persistent reservoir of virus (Fig. 49-1). The virulence of several strains of HIV and herpesviruses correlates with their ability to multiply in macrophages. Infected macrophages may carry virus across the blood-brain barrier. Interestingly, cytomegalovirus has been reported to replicate in granulocytes. Macrophages seem to be more effective against viruses than are granulocytes, and some viruses seem to be more susceptible to phagocytosis than others. Macrophages and polymorphonuclear leukocytes can afford important protection by markedly reducing the viremia caused by virus strains susceptible to phagocytosis.

What are common factors in psychotherapy?

Common factors, factors that are common to all forms of psychotherapy, such as the relationship between patient and therapist (alliance), have been much discussed as potential mechanisms that explain how psychotherapy works. Fueled by the dodo bird verdict (the finding that many psychotherapies produce equivalent outcomes), this debate continues to date. Opponents of the common factor theory point to the correlational designs of common factor studies that do not allow causal inferences, whereas the proponents claim that the fact that most psychotherapies produce equivalent results shows that common factors must be responsible for the effects. In reality, there is little evidence that pleads for or against the common factor theory. Recent studies have begun to disentangle the temporal relation between therapeutic alliance and outcome (i.e., what changes first), but the findings are mixed. New lines of research are needed to resolve the debate. The question of which factors are responsible for the benefits of psychotherapy remains an empirical one. Keywords: experimental design; psychopathology; psychotherapies

Why is there little difference in the effectiveness of different kinds of psychotherapy?

One explanation is that common factors cut across them. The major schools do not much attend to common factors, however, and it may be that outcome equivalence is due as much to common neglect of common factors as to their use.

What are the effects of placebo on psychotherapy?

The issue of placebo response and the extent of its effect on psychotherapy is complex for two specific reasons: i) Current standards for drug trials, e.g., true placebo interventions, double-blinding, cannot be applied to most psychotherapy techniques, and ii) some of the "nonspecific effects" in drug therapy have very specific effects in psychotherapy, such as the frequency and intensity of patient-therapist interaction. In addition, different psychotherapy approaches share many such specific effects (the "dodo bird verdict") and lack specificity with respect to therapy outcome. Here, we discuss the placebo effect in psychotherapy under four aspects: a) nonspecific factors shared with drug therapy (context factors); b) nonspecific factors shared among all psychotherapy traditions (common factors); c) specific placebo-controlled options with different psychotherapy modalities; and d) nonspecific control options for the specific placebo effect in psychotherapy. The resulting framework proposes that the exploration and enumeration of context factors, common factors, and specific factors contributes to the placebo effects in psychotherapy.

What is TA in psychology?

Aim: The moderate association between therapeutic alliance (TA) and psychological therapy outcome is well established. Historically, the field has not focused on people with a severe mental illness. This is the first review to conduct a meta-analysis of associations between TA and therapeutic engagement as well as outcome in psychological therapy for psychosis. Eligibility criteria: Eligible studies conducted a quantitative investigation of the relationship between TA during a psychological therapy and outcome at a subsequent time-point. Method: A systematic review examined the relationship between TA and engagement as well as outcome measures within psychological therapy for psychosis. Correlational meta-analyses using an aggregate random effects model were conducted. Results: Twenty-four studies were eligible for inclusion (n = 1,656) of which 13 were included in the meta-analyses. Client- and therapist-rated TA were associated with engagement in therapy (rclient (c) = 0.36, p = .003; rtherapist (t) = 0.40, p = .0053). TA was also associated with reduction in global (rc = 0.29, p = .0005; rt = 0.24, p = .0015) and psychotic symptoms (rc = 0.17, p = .0115; rt = 0.30, p = .0003). The systematic review identified no evidence or limited evidence for a relationship between TA during therapy and depression, substance use, physical health behaviours, global as well as social functioning, overall mental health recovery, and self-esteem at follow-up. Although number of studies was small, TA was related to a reduced risk of subsequent hospitalization in 40% of analyses (across two studies) and improved cognitive outcome in 50% of analyses (across three studies). Conclusions: The observed TA-therapy engagement and TA-outcome associations were broadly consistent with those identified across non-psychotic diagnostic groups. Well-powered studies are needed to investigate the relationship between TA and process as well as outcome in psychological therapy for psychosis specifically. Practitioner points: This is the first review to conduct a meta-analytic synthesis of the association between therapeutic alliance (TA) and both engagement and change in outcome in psychological therapies for psychosis. TA (as rated by therapist and client) was associated with the extent of therapeutic engagement as well as reduction in global mental health symptoms and psychotic symptoms. The significant associations between TA and engagement as well as change in outcome identified in the current review are broadly consistent with those observed across non-psychotic diagnostic groups. We consider factors that could impact upon the dynamic and potentially interdependent relationships between TA and therapeutic techniques, including attachment security and severity of paranoid ideation.

What is the therapeutic alliance between the patient and the therapist?

Finally, the therapeutic alliance between the patient and therapist has been championed as the essential mechanism according to the common factor theory, that states that aspecific elements present in all types of therapy are responsible for the effects (20, 89).

What are the opposing points of common factor theory?

Opponents of the common factor theory point to the correlational designs of common factor studies that do not allow causal inferences, whereas the proponents claim that the fact that most psychotherapies produce equivalent results shows that common factors must be responsible for the effects.

Is there evidence for common factor theory?

In reality, there is little evidence that pleads for or against the common factor theory. Recent studies have begun to disentangle the temporal relation between therapeutic alliance and outcome (i.e., what changes first), but the findings are mixed. New lines of research are needed to resolve the debate.

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