Background
Over the past years, a great amount of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted to assess the effectiveness and/or the efficacy of numerous psychotherapies for a wide range of outcomes. While it is commonly accepted that psychotherapy could be considered effective and in the case of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) comparable to pharmacotherapy, the question about the quality of the evidence in the field remains controversial. Some empirical meta-research studies have shown an excess of significant findings and the existence of biases in this literature, however, there have been no efforts to provide an overview of the range and the validity of the reported effectiveness of psychotherapies and pinpoint
Over the past years, a great amount of meta-analyses of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) have been conducted to assess the effectiveness and/or the efficacy of numerous psychotherapies for a wide range of outcomes. While it is commonly accepted that psychotherapy could be considered effective and in the case of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) comparable to pharmacotherapy, the question about the quality of the evidence in the field remains controversial. Some empirical meta-research studies have shown an excess of significant findings and the existence of biases in this literature, however, there have been no efforts to provide an overview of the range and the validity of the reported effectiveness of psychotherapies and pinpoint