Wie evident ist Evidenzbasierung? Über ein gutes Konzept – und seine missbräuchliche Verwendung.

The concept of »evidence-based medicine« (EBM) is actually a very good proposal to keep a sufficient overview with respect to the abundance of research literature – also in the field of psychotherapy – and thus to be able to make better decisions for the benefit of patients. It is shown that this good concept is now predominantly misused. Instead of taking into account the breadth of relevant information on an issue, EBM in Germany has been substantially converted into an instrument for selection and regulation. Only studies that follow the logic of pharmaceutical trials – RCTs – are taken into account, although this approach is inadequate for a wide range of psychotherapy. Moreover, these results are then summarized by means of »effect sizes« using the methods of meta-analysis – although »effect size« does not (only) measure treatment success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]