Evidence-Based Practice, Talking Therapies and the New Taylorism

This paper explores the development of evidence-based practice (EBP) in the field of talking therapies, and particular its realisation in the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme in the National Health Service in England. A critique of EBP is offered, starting with an examination of its epistemological and methodological foundations. The critique is then developed to examine the way EBP is being used to support the implementation of a new form of management ideology, Digital Taylorism, which is based on the codification and routinisation of what was previously considered to be subjective knowledge and practice. The service offered by IAPT, and supported by guidance from the National Institute of Health and Clinical Excellence, is presented as a prime example of this ideology in the field of talking therapies. The paper concludes by considering how EBP can best be confronted.