Book excerpt: "At the root of many controversies surrounding therapy is one key question: What works? Is efficacy based on the singular curative powers of specialized techniques, or do other variables account for patient change? This book proposes the answer, which is not to be found in the languages, theories, or procedural differences of the field's warring camps. Instead, the answer lies in pantheoretical, or common factors--the ingredients of effective therapy shared by all orientations. /// More than 40 yrs of outcome research is pointing the way to what really matters in the therapist's day-to-day work. The editors have assembled researchers and practitioners in the field to analyze the extensive literature on common factors and to offer their own evaluations of what those data mean for therapy, therapists, and consumers. Consistent patterns are revealed in findings from multiple perspectives--clinical, research, quantitative and qualitative, individual and family, and medical and school. The result is a book that interprets the empirical foundation of how people change. Clinicians will especially appreciate the wealth of practical suggestions for using the common factors to improve their daily practice"--Jacket. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).