Psychotherapy research and the scientification of professional practice in psychodynamic group psychotherapy

Within psychotherapy, there is still a lively discussion concerning the question of scientification", its possibilities, limitations and dangers. Related to a series of articles dealing with psychodynamic group psychotherapy and group analysis, some aspects of the discussion are outlined in this paper such as the attempts to reach evidence based practice in medicine and psychology. The articles published in the journal Gruppenpsychotherapie and Gruppendynamik" during the last years reflect some changes in the ratio of theoretical to empirical work in favour of empirical studies on psychodynamic group treatment and disorder specific groups. In relation to psychodynamic group psychotherapy it is suggested to find a balanced mixture of empirical studies related to its efficacy and effectiveness, clinical/practical contributions, but also work related to an empirical support of the theory.