Where are the Results?

            How do you measure whether a theory of the mind is true?  The answer is appallingly simple:  You apply that theory to some people and you find out if there are observable, measurable results.  Does applying that theory result in an observable, measurable improvement in therapeutic results?   If so, then the theory must to some extent be right.

            Why is it that we see so few statistics applied to therapy?  It isn’t because there are no dependable ways to measure progress in therapy.  Even a standard personality test  administered each month would provide some idea of how effective our methods are. 

It isn’t because some researchers haven’t attempted to measure the results of their therapeutic efforts. 

The reason we see so few published statistics regarding therapy is because the results are so discouraging.  No therapy or therapeutic approach yet introduced in the entire field of psychology has produced significant, measurable, repeatable improvement in people.  If such an approach had been introduced, it would have taken the world of psychology by storm.  Things have remained all too quiet on the therapeutic front.

There is a simplicity staring each researcher and each therapist square in the face when they approach the mind of another human being, but apparently none has had the balls to grasp that simplicity.