There is a tendency to consider that psychotherapeutic interventions are free of adverse effects. However, is this really the case?
Psychotherapy is considered by many to be an intervention that lacks unwanted effects. In particular, this is a widely held belief if we ask these people to compare the side effects, they would expect from a therapeutic intervention with those from a pharmacological intervention.
However, essays writers research shows that psychological intervention may have relevant adverse effects relatively often. Moreover, this is to be expected since most effective interventions carry some side effects.
Why do we have the perception that psychotherapy lacks side effects?
Some factors that might explain why we tend to think psychotherapy lacks side effects have been described. In addition, the amount of research on this fact is currently scarce.
Among the reasons for this perception, we can find, on the one hand, the fact that the therapist is the author of the psychological intervention. Thus, he/she is responsible for any adverse effects that his/her intervention may cause. This element makes his perception biased. Thus, he tends to be more interested in the beneficial effects to the detriment of the adverse ones.
On the other hand, pharmacological intervention focuses only on the symptom. On the other hand, psychological intervention, in addition to focusing on the symptoms, also focuses on the context. This additional effect could also generate more adverse effects (Linden, 2014).
Third, there is dispute over the idea of “adverse psychotherapeutic impact.” In addition, differentiating between an adverse effect and the absence of a positive effect (or therapeutic failure) after applying the psychological intervention is difficult.
Side effects of psychotherapy
We can approach the concept of “adverse psychotherapeutic effect.” Thus, side effects could refer to the effects that occur simultaneously as the intervention is administered and that pose a problem, both for the person and his or her environment.
Moreover, the existence of side effects does not mean the intervention is negative. A person may have a medical condition and is prescribed an antibiotic draws a parallel with biological treatments. Eventually, he is cured, but as an adverse reaction, he develops diarrhea.
Some possible candidates
In another sense, it is interesting to evaluate how these adverse psychotherapeutic effects are produced and how they impact. In this sense, evaluating the impact at the clinical level should be made in topographical terms, i.e., considering how intense the effects are, how long they last, and how they alter the person. Among the candidates to be considered for side effects, we can find (Linden, 2014):
- Production of new symptomatology in the context of the intervention that was previously absent.
- Exacerbation of pre-existing symptoms.
- Absence of improvement or even greater severity of the clinical picture.
- Excessive temporality of the intervention.
- Lack of adherence or poor compliance with psychotherapeutic tasks.
- Absence of a stable therapeutic alliance.
- On the other hand, an excessive therapeutic alliance could be a sign of dependence.
- Discomfort in the family or socio-labor context.
- The appearance of behaviors related to stigma.
In addition, very little research has carried out a concrete follow-up of the side effects of psychotherapeutic interventions. Nevertheless, we will outline some of the data that have been found.
An approach to the side effects of psychotherapy
For example, in the case of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) applied to trauma, up to three possible candidates could be found to be considered side effects (Linden, 2014). These include increased fear of dark or darkened environments and urinating or defecating in inappropriate places, i.e., enuresis and encopresis.
In another case, intervening on Tourette’s syndrome, Piacentini (2015) found up to two hundred side effects of the treatment, which included bone injuries, neck injuries, and contusions. However, whether these side effects are from the disorder itself or as a consequence of the intervention is still unknown.
As we have seen, the variable of “adverse psychotherapeutic effects” needs to be incorporated into future research on the cost-effectiveness of treatments. Thus, these can be expected to occur in almost 20 out of every 100 patients receiving this format.