The Consumer Reports effectiveness score: What did consumers report?

From readers’ ratings of satisfaction, problem resolution, and perceived emotional change during treatment, Consumer Reports magazine (CR, 1995) concluded both that psychotherapy is effective and that longer, more intensive therapy is more effective. The authors compared prospectively gathered 45-Item Outcome Questionnaire scores (OQ-45; M. J. Lambert, N. B. Hansen, et al., 1996) with CR scores gathered 6 or more weeks after treatment among 302 former counseling center clients. CR perceived emotional change scores were strongly correlated with but sharply overestimated prospectively measured OQ-45 change scores. Treatment length was correlated with CR satisfaction ratings but not with CR perceived change scores, CR problem resolution scores, or change measured with the OQ-45. CR’s conclusions appear to have been too optimistic and too general. In their annual subscriber survey of 1994, the publishers and editors of Consumer Reports magazine (CR) asked for descriptions of experiences with seeking help for mental health problems. A paragraph early in an article describing results from the survey in CR’s November 1995 issue summarized their conclusions concisely: The results of a candid, in-depth survey of Consumer Reports subscribers—the largest survey ever to query people on mental-health care—provide convincing evidence that therapy can make an important difference. Four thousand of our readers who responded had sought help from a mental-health provider or a family doctor for psychological problems, or had joined a self-help group. The majority were highly satisfied with the care they received. Most had made strides toward resolving the problems that led to treatment, and almost all said life had become more manageable. (CR, 1995, p. 734)