In Search of Memory: The Emergence of a New Science of Mind

by Eric R. Kandel

The long-term effects of the new psychotherapies are still uncertain, however. Although they often achieve results, both therapeutically and in terms of basic understanding, within five to fifteen sessions, the improvement is not always long-lasting. Indeed, it would appear that for some patients to achieve sustained improvement, therapy must continue for one or two years, perhaps because treating symptoms of their disorder without addressing the underlying conflicts is not always efficacious. Even more important from a scientific viewpoint is the fact that Beck and most other proponents of evidence-based therapeutics come from a psychoanalytic tradition of observation, not from a biological tradition of experimentation. With rare exceptions, the leaders of this trend in psychotherapy have not yet turned to biology to try to understand the underlying basis of observed behavior.

Largo de la psicoterapia