THE PRAGMATIC RELEVANCE AND METHODOLOGICAL CONCERNS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY OUTCOME RESEARCH RELATED TO COST EFFECTIVENESS AND COST-OFFSET IN THE EMERGING HEALTH CARE ENVIRONMENT

This article explores the existing body of literature related to psychotherapy outcome. Examination is focused on: plausible links between aspects of therapeutic process and client change, documentation of the cost-effectiveness and cost-offset data between psychotherapy involvement and utilization of medical and surgical services, and the difficult questions held in attempting to measure psychotherapeutic processes in paradigms that cannot accommodate non-linear examination of variables. Consideration is given to the lack of pragmatic application of psychotherapy outcome studies and practitioners' apathy for understanding and contributing to the body of knowledge regarding outcome.