A meta‐analysis of personalized treatment goals in psychotherapy: A preliminary report and call for more studies.

Abstract

The aim of this study was to explore the hypothesis that psychotherapy has larger effect sizes for personalized treatment goals than for symptom checklists. We conducted a meta-analysis of clinical trials that measured treatment success both in terms of symptom checklists and personalized treatment goals. Our search of the literature yielded 12 studies that met our inclusion criteria. Effect sizes were substantially larger for personalized treatment goals (ES = .86, p < .0001) than for symptom checklists (ES = .32, p = .003). The magnitude of this difference was significant (p < .05). Our results suggest that psychotherapy is perhaps more effective in helping patients with individual goals than reducing scores on broad measures of symptoms. Estimates of the effectiveness of psychotherapy that are based on symptom checklists perhaps underestimate the true benefit of psychotherapy. We discuss the implications for research and clinical practice.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder: Personalized goals may be more (or less) than meets the eye.

“…Perhaps forgotten was their finding that the “reactivity” of the outcome measure had a large impact on the size of the effect. Reactive measures (i.e., ones that were easier to “fake” and were subjective) produced much larger effects than more objective measures, a result eerily similar to Lindhiem and colleagues' () findings. Over the years, the size of the effect for psychotherapy has been found to vary depending on how the effect is calculated (i.e., the method), the nature of the control group, the allegiance of the researcher, and, as we see in Lindhiem and colleagues' results as well as Smith and Glass's, the nature of the outcome variable.…”

“…These are interesting results and deserve further investigation, as Lindhiem et al. () noted in their subtitle: “A Preliminary Report and Call for More Studies.”…”

“…I look at the results and see something different—and what I see may be less or more than Lindhiem et al. () see. Differing views provide opportunities for new understanding.…”

Individual goal achievement in group psychotherapy: The roles of psychological mindedness and group process in interpretive and supportive therapy for complicated grief

“…Various methods for evaluating individual goals have recently been developed, including category‐based and disorder‐specific checklists (Grosse & Grawe, ; Schöttke et al, ; Wood & McMurran, ). Research suggests that such goals only partially correspond to disorder‐specific symptoms (Ramnerö & Jansson, ), with meta‐analytic findings indicating considerably larger effect sizes for change in personalized treatment goals than for symptom measures (Lindhiem, Bennett, Orimoto, & Kolko, ).…”

“…Research suggests that such goals only partially correspond to disorder-specific symptoms (Ramnerö & Jansson, 2016), with metaanalytic findings indicating considerably larger effect sizes for change in personalized treatment goals than for symptom measures (Lindhiem, Bennett, Orimoto, & Kolko, 2016).…”