The Topics of Psychotherapy Research: An Analysis Based on Keywords

Abstract

A content analysis of the representative Journals in the field of psychothera-py research has been performed. The analysis focused on the articles’ keywords. We ana-lyzed 7,086 works published in 17 Journals, in the period 2005-2011, using a two-step multidimensional procedure. Firstly, a cluster analysis led to the extrapolation of 4 groups of keywords, each of them interpreted as the marker of a topic active within the literature. Secondly, a factorial analysis was carried out in order to picture the thematic orientation of the most representative Journals, namely the main topics they focus on and how they differ from each other in this respect.

A systematic review of psychotherapy research topics (2000-2016): a computer-assisted approach

“…The latter, to date, are considered the gold standard to produce the best research evidence for demonstrating that a therapy works, as reflected in the criteria of the Task Force of the American Psychological Association (APA) Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) for empirically supported treatments (ESTs; Chambless & Hollon, 1998 ),within the more general framework of the evidence-based practice (EBP) movement (American Psychological Association, Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice, 2006 ). Our results show that an EBP-based, EST-oriented approach to the investigation of therapeutic efficacy is (still) a primary concern for current psychotherapy research (Gennaro et al, 2012 ; Gelo et al, 2019).…”

“…In line with the work of Gennaro et al ( 2012 ), the present paper aims to empirically map the topics characterizing the current state of psychotherapy research. As in Gennaro et al ( 2012 ), we make use of a computer-assisted bottom-up content analysis ( i.e ., ACASM; Salvatore et al, 2012 , 2017), with the difference, however, that this will be applied to publications’ abstracts rather than keywords. The idea is that papers’ abstracts could be more indicative and informative about their actual topic than keywords.…”

“…In order to overcome these limitations, Gennaro et al ( 2012 ) recently conducted an extensive review on the publications of 17 journals in the period 2005-2011 ( N =7,086). The authors employed an innovative procedure of computer-assisted , bottom-up content analysis: the Automated Co-occurrence Analysis for Semantic Mapping (ACASM) (Salvatore et al, 2017; Salvatore, Gennaro, Auletta, Tonti, & Nitti, 2012 ).…”

“…In their study to identify the psychotherapy research topics, Gennaro et al ( 2012 ), focused their analysis on the articles’ keywords; thus, each cluster identified by ACASM represented a group of keywords which tended to co-occur, and was interpreted as a topic emerging from within the literature under consideration. Results showed four clusters, dealing with the following topics: cognitive and behavior treatment, the study of mental disease, intervention on severe mental disorders, and outcome research, methodology, and results.…”

Listado de síntomas breve (short checklist of symptoms) in Argentinean adults: psychometric study of its main clinical scales

“…In the same line, Gennaro, Venuelo, Auletta, and Salvatore (2012) identified that one of the main topics in psychotherapy research is the study of self-report measures. Valid psychopathology screening tests are fundamental for psychotherapy research as they facilitate an initial screening of subjects in order to only select individuals who might meet the diagnostic criteria sought and, afterwards, applied in a smaller group of people the adequate diagnostic measures which demand more time and effort.…”