The article presents psychotherapy research to complete a qualitative view of the tendencies in this field. Seven special sections about this issue published between 1995 and 2005 in an important journal of the American Psychological Association (APA) are analyzed. It verifies that the great emphases in the field - the search for scientific evidence and the combination of the research and clinical practice - are still the focus of the discussions, mainly the debate about the controlled clinical essays. Less intensive production in the period but more objective conditions to a possible approach between the researchers and the clinicians are observed. There are still challenges, now searching new directions.Key words: identification; psychoanalysis; metapsychology.
psychotherapeutic process; scientific production; documental analysis; literature review
