Psychotherapy Research

ISSN: 1050-3307 (Print) 1468-4381 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/tpsr20

A train of thought: 25 years of Psychotherapy

Research

J. Christopher Muran & Wolfgang Lutz

To cite this article: J. Christopher Muran & Wolfgang Lutz (2015) A train of thought:
25 years of Psychotherapy Research, Psychotherapy Research, 25:3, 277-281, DOI:
10.1080/10503307.2015.1025483

To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2015.1025483

Published online: 23 Apr 2015.

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 Psychotherapy Research, 2015
Vol. 25, No. 3, 277–281, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10503307.2015.1025483

INTRODUCTION

A train of thought: 25 years of Psychotherapy Research

J. CHRISTOPHER MURAN1,2 & WOLFGANG LUTZ3

1
Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA; 2Psychotherapy Research
Program, Mount Sinai Beth Israel, New York, NY, USA & 3Department of Psychology, University Trier, Trier, Germany
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Abstract
This paper serves as an introduction to the 25th anniversary issue of Psychotherapy Research. It includes a consideration of
the original aims of the journal in light of the most cited articles, various developments in research orientation and
methodology, and most recent publications. It demonstrates both diversity and consistency in content over time, as well as
the international reach of the journal.

Keywords: psychotherapy research; outcome and process; quantitative and qualitative methods; therapist effect; therapist
feedback

Twenty-five years ago a train embarked on its
maiden voyage. Psychotherapy Research was first
published in 1991 as the flagship journal of the
international Society for Psychotherapy Research
(SPR). In the beginning, it was a simple engine
that pulled a couple railway cars: The first volume
consisted of only two issues and 15 articles. Over the
course of time, it became a more powerful locomot-
ive that drove many cars with many passengers
across many lands: Today the journal publishes six
issues and approximately 60 articles for each volume.
The founding editors Klaus Grawe, David Sha-
piro, and Hans Strupp described the journal’s
mission as twofold: First, to meet the demand of
the dramatic growth in the field and “to promote the
highest standards of scientific quality while promot-
ing methodological diversity and theoretical plural-
ism” (p. 1). In this regard, the journal has long
promoted research innovation in both quantitative
and qualitative method (see Volume 19, Number 4–
5 as a perfect illustration), as well as research in the
various theoretical tradition (as this special issue will
illustrate). The journal has also promoted scientific
quality as evidenced by an Impact Factor (from
Thomson Reuter) of 2.014 over the past 5 years and
an Eigenfactor (which factors in quality of journal
citations) that recently ranked the journal at the 35th
percentile in clinical psychology: These indexes have
both been trending up. The second mission was to
meet the need of the developing international
dimension of the field and “to promote international
communication without compromising on scientific
quality” (p. 2). In recent years, the journal has (on
average per year) reviewed submissions by first
authors from 32 different countries and published
articles by first authors from 15 different countries,
thus fulfilling its mission to become the premier
“international” journal for psychotherapy research.
We have been privileged to serve as the most
recent engineers of Psychotherapy Research to be
driving it on the occasion of its 25th anniversary.
We have watched it grow in size and reach while we
have grown up professionally. When considering
how to commemorate this occasion, we thought it
appropo to look back at the miles of track covered
and examine the data. Below you will find four tables
that present the most cited papers in 6-year eras of
the journal’s journey (Tables I–IV).
We conducted a descriptive analysis that we invite
you to consider (we present these for your

Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to J. Christopher Muran, Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies,
Adelphi University, New York, NY, USA. Email: jcmuran@adelphi.edu

© 2015 Society for Psychotherapy Research

 278 J. C. Muran and W. Lutz
Table I. Most cited articles 1991–1996.

Total
Title Author Volume Issue citations

Meta-analysis of therapist effects in psychotherapy outcome studies Crits-Christoph et al. (1991) 1 2 208
Assessing clinical significance: Proposed extensions to method Tingey, Lambert, Burlingame, 6 2 117
and Hansen (1996)
Psychotherapy transcription standards Mergenthaler and Stinson (1992) 2 2 89
Assimilation of problematic experiences: The case of John Jones Stiles, Meshot, Anderson, and 2 2 73
Sloan (1992)
Research on the process of change Greenberg (1991) 1 1 68

acceptance, revision, or rejection). We found divers- articles in 2014; 11 articles in 2013). Another
ity: Papers on qualitative (3 articles) and quantitative honorary paper (de la Parra, 2013) illustrates our
(4) methods, on intensive single-case (2) and extens- longstanding and expanding aim to apply and study
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ive aggregate (7) designs, on measurement develop-
ment (1) and analytic strategies (2); several studies
on therapist effects (3) and therapist feedback (4)
with regard to outcome; invited addresses on indi-
vidual programs of research (3); and many papers on
the process of psychotherapy (10), especially the
therapeutic relationship (4). In addition, we found
constancy over time: In other words, we did not see
much difference in subjects covered across the five
eras. Most of all, we found fidelity to what our
founding editors envisioned.
A snapshot of the recent past shows more of the
same. Two special issues demonstrate the trend in
tailoring psychotherapies to specific psychopatholo-
gies: Specifically, eating disorders (Tasca &
Machado, 2013) and personality disorders (Dimag-
gio, Nicolò, Semerari, & Carcione, 2013). Our
special issue last spring on recent innovations in the
study of the therapeutic relationship (Wiseman &
Tishby, 2014) demonstrates the journal’s continued
interest in-patient–therapist interactions, including
the diverse array of concepts, methods, and analyses.
You can also see this orientation in a honorary paper
(Gelso, 2014) and many individual submissions (12
psychotherapy to the ends of the world. There is also
a good deal of evidence in our last two volumes of
the burgeoning interest in mindfulness (Del Re,
Flückiger, Goldberg, & Hoyt, 2013; Fatter & Hayes,
2013; Horst, Newsom, & Stith, 2013; McMain et al.,
2013; Vega et al., 2014; Wyatt, Harper, & Weather-
head, 2014) and mentalization (Ensink et al., 2013;
Gullestad, Johansen, Høglend, Karterud, & Wilberg,
2013; Karterud et al., 2013). There is more evidence
of patient–feedback research, sudden gains, and
losses as well as early response and dose-effective-
ness (Amble, Gude, Stubdal, Andersen, & Wam-
pold, 2014; Crits-Christoph et al., 2015; de Jong
et al., 2014; Dyer, Hooke, & Page, 2014; Lutz et al.,
2013; Owen, Adelson, Budge, Kopta, & Reese,
2014; Probst, Lambert, Loew, Dahlbender, & Tritt,
2014). And finally, you see the increasing and very
important effort to translate psychotherapy research
to public health, as illustrated in another honorary
paper (Johnson, 2014), and to the clinic setting, seen
in our most recent special issue on practice–research
networks (Castonguay & Muran, 2015). These are a
few highlights that we believe reflect that we are on
track and moving full steam ahead.

Table II. Most cited articles 1997–2002.

Total
Title Author Volume Issue citations

The effects of providing therapists with feedback on patient progress Lambert, Whipple, Smart, 11 1 150
during psychotherapy: Are outcomes enhanced? Vermeersch, and Nielsen (2001)
Attachment, social competencies, social support, and interpersonal Mallinckrodt (2000) 10 3 101
process in psychotherapy
How expert clinicians’ prototypes of an ideal treatment correlate with Ablon and Jones (1998) 8 1 101
outcome in psychodynamic and cognitive-behavioral therapy
Experiential therapy of depression: Differential effects of client-centered Greenberg and Watson (1998) 8 2 90
relationship conditions and process experiential interventions
Therapist effects in three treatments for alcohol problems Project MATCH Research 8 4 81
Group (1998)
 Psychotherapy Research 279
Table III. Most cited articles 2003–2008.

Total
Title Author Volume Issue citations

Therapist effects in psychotherapy: A random-effects modeling of Kim, Wampold, and Bolt (2006) 16 2 100
the National Institute of Mental Health Treatment of
Depression Collaborative Research Program data
Development and validation of a revised short version of the Hatcher and Gillaspy (2006) 16 1 90
Working Alliance Inventory
Presidential address: What we have learned from a decade of research Lambert (2007) 17 1 88
aimed at improving psychotherapy outcome in routine care
Enhancing outcome for potential treatment failures: Therapist client Harmon et al. (2007) 17 4 63
feedback and clinical support tools
The therapeutic effects of providing patient progress information Hawkins, Lambert, Vermeersch, 14 3 59
to therapists and patients Slade, and Tuttle (2004)
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Table IV. Most cited articles 2009–2014.

Total
Title Author Volume Issue Citations

Understanding how and why psychotherapy leads to change Kazdin (2009) 19 4–5 58
Toward a working through of some core conflicts in psychotherapy Barber (2009) 19 1 44
research
Using clinical significance in psychotherapy outcome research: The Lambert and Ogles (2009) 19 4–5 36
need for a common procedure and validity data
Correspondence of motivational enhancement treatment integrity Martino, Ball, Nich, Frankforter, 19 2 32
ratings among therapists, supervisors, and observers and Carroll (2009)
Predictors of sustained therapeutic change Blatt, Zuroff, Hawley, and 20 1 30
Auerbach (2010)
Processing the therapeutic relationship Hill and Knox (2009) 19 1 30

We also thought to commemorate the occasion of
our 25th anniversary with a series of invited papers
that would at once consider the state and future of
Psychotherapy Research as a journal and a field. In this
regard, we decided to invite the esteemed former
editors of the journal. You will see perspectives from
the UK, Continental Europe, South America
(Strauss, Shapiro, Barkham, Parry, & Machado,
2015), and North America (Stiles, Hill, & Elliott,
2014). We also decided to include contributions
regarding research on the various traditions by
leaders in our SPR community, from psycho-
dynamic (Barber & Sharpless, 2015), cognitive-
behavioral (McMain, Newman, Segal, & DeRubeis,
2015), humanistic (Angus, Watson, Elliot, Schnei-
der, & Timulak, 2014), systemic (Heatherington,
Friedlander, Diamond, Escudero, & Pinsof, 2015),
to integrative (Castonguay, Eubanks-Carter, Gold-
fried, Muran, & Lutz, 2015). More specifically, we
asked that all these contributions reflect on the past
but pay particular attention to the future with the
hope that they can shape it, that they can provide an
itinerary for future travel of our journal and
determine the possible destinations for the field.
This was our modest proposal.
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