Is more psychotherapy a dead horse? An essay on the (in)effectiveness of individual treatment for mental suffering

Abstract

In the past decades, psychological and pharmacological treatment access has improved, but the prevalence of mental health conditions has nevertheless increased across all age groups, and particularly in young people. Recent reviews, taking biases and quality of included studies into account, confirm the relative ineffectiveness of individual psychotherapies for alleviating mental suffering. Many new forms of individual therapy have been developed since the 1970s, without resulting in improved rates of recovery from treatment. Various stakeholders keep advocating for more psychotherapy, but instead, we propose that more primary prevention strategies may be our best hope for reducing the burden of mental disorders.