561 Evaluation Methodologies in Counseling and Psychotherapy Across the Lifespan

The practice of psychotherapy has changed, and continues to change, since its inception in the late 19th century. The development of 3rd party payers for psychotherapy services has required practitioners to substantiate claims that previously had gone unchallenged. The process of learning how people change, both in and out of the therapeutic setting, has yielded information that is as often encouraging as it is unsettling. In this course we will examine the practice of psychotherapy, various ways outcomes can be assessed, key variables that appear to moderate therapeutic processes, which claims have substance and which do not. Students will be asked to consider what Wampold has called “The Great Psychotherapy Debate” from the perspectives of key stake holders in the therapeutic relationship.