The Science of Personalizing Psychological Treatments (with Dr. John Norcross)

Focusing on which psychotherapy is best for a specific psychiatric disorder has had limited value in providing a path to improving overall psychotherapy outcomes. Research has, however, identified multiple promising ways to boost effectiveness by personalizing treatments.

Dr. John Norcross and I discuss what current research says about personalizing psychological treatments and the potential it has for improving effectiveness and decreasing treatment dropout. He also gives his take on how psychotherapy orientations are evolving, how mental health research funding should be redirected and how personalization could be part of clinical guidelines.

Dr. Norcross is Distinguished Professor and chair of psychology at the University of Scranton and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University in upstate New York. He has served as president of the Society of Psychotherapy and the Society of Clinical Psychology at the American Psychological Association and president of the International Society of Clinical Psychology and the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration. He has also served as an APA Council Representative and as a director of the National Register of Health Service Psychologists. He has co-written or edited over 20 books including Personalizing Psychotherapy, the series Psychotherapy Relationships that Work and the APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology.

Episode timestamps
- 00.00 Developing pragmatism in mental health
- 6.53    Relationship factors related to better outcomes
- 22.05 Personalizing psychological treatments
- 30.53 Training therapists to personalize
- 44.20 Training therapist responsiveness vs. matching patients to therapists
- 49.00 Perspectives on mental health research funding and guidelines


Related materials:
Psychotherapy Relationships That Work: Evidence-Based Responsiveness
Psychotherapy Relationships That Work III