title: How do psychological treatments work? Investigating mediators of change.
abstract: Little is known about how psychological treatments work. Research on treatment-induced mediators of change may be of help in identifying potential causal mechanisms through which they operate. Outcome-focused randomised controlled trials provide an excellent opportunity for such work. However, certain conceptual and practical difficulties arise when studying psychological treatments, most especially deciding how best to conceptualise the treatment concerned and how to accommodate the fact that most psychological treatments are implemented flexibly. In this paper, these difficulties are discussed, and strategies and procedures for overcoming them are described.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Oxford University, Warneford Hospital, Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: Rebecca
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Murphy
authors.forename: Zafra
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Steven D
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Hollon
authors.forename: Christopher G
authors.initials: CG
authors.lastname: Fairburn
mesh_terms: D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D013811:Psychotherapeutic Processes; D011613:Psychotherapy / Q000379:methods*; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic