Here's what comes to my mind. There's this notion that if it isn't scientific it isn't serious. But if you want to take a scientific approach to everything, you won't be able to navigate life. If someone gives you personal advice on how to find a trustworthy contractor for your roof, do you demand a scientific study?
I'm not a scientist, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that science is by far the best method of finding truth within pretty small parameters. A law of physics. The effects of one particular chemical on a certain kind of animal. Etc. For complicated things the best thing you can do is make a really simple model of it and draw a conclusion from that. The other details are anecdotes. Again, people say to avoid trusting anecdotes, but it's what we live by all the time day to day.
So when it comes to psychotherapy, it's an art form. Especially given the multiple incompatible schools of thought. It's not that much of a science. If a lot of people swear by it, well, maybe it's a placebo (though what would that even mean for psychotherapy?). Or maybe there's something to it for a decent number of people.
When it comes to health, yes, I prefer science. To me, that falls well within the same category as laws of physics, where the best method of finding truth is science.
Even picking a roofing contractor (or anything else that merely has to do with money or material possessions), I may not demand all the trappings of the scientific method, but, if possible, I want at least some of them, like data, and borrowing methodologies and reasoning. Relying on the advice/authority of a single other person is unappealing, unless I believe that other person actually did the research I would have done.
Sometimes, though, it's not possible. If a tree fell through the roof, it may not matter who the "best" one is, only the good-enough one available now.
I'm not a scientist, so correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that science is by far the best method of finding truth within pretty small parameters. A law of physics. The effects of one particular chemical on a certain kind of animal. Etc. For complicated things the best thing you can do is make a really simple model of it and draw a conclusion from that. The other details are anecdotes. Again, people say to avoid trusting anecdotes, but it's what we live by all the time day to day.
So when it comes to psychotherapy, it's an art form. Especially given the multiple incompatible schools of thought. It's not that much of a science. If a lot of people swear by it, well, maybe it's a placebo (though what would that even mean for psychotherapy?). Or maybe there's something to it for a decent number of people.