Research on Humanistic-Experiential Psychotherapies: Updated Review
Adjacent
Across 91 studies, clients in humanistic-experiential therapies (person-centred, emotion-focused, Gestalt and others) changed substantially, and about as much as clients in other therapies.
The review pools the therapies that work with present experience and with the relationship: person-centred, emotion-focused, Focusing-oriented, Gestalt and others. Clients changed by a large amount from the start of therapy to its end (d = .86) and gained about as much over clients who had no therapy (.88). Against other therapies the family came out equivalent (−.08). Cognitive-behavioural therapy came out slightly ahead (−.26), but the authors treat that edge as doubtful: most of those trials were run by CBT researchers, and the humanistic therapies in them were often not given as their developers would give them. The strongest results were for emotion-focused therapy, then person-centred therapy.
Gestalt therapy appears only pooled with psychodrama: 17 samples and 723 clients, with a pre–post effect of d = .78. Some of those studies were of Gestalt groups.
What it doesn’t show
About therapy for clinical problems, given by trained therapists. Gestalt therapy is pooled with psychodrama and never reported alone, and nothing here bears on peer-led practice or on Circling. Elliott and Watson co-wrote the main textbook of emotion-focused therapy, one of the approaches reviewed.
Summary based on the authors’ accepted manuscript, which may differ from the published chapter.