Effectiveness is the gold standard of clinical research

A recommendation should be made to be very careful in not equating the empirical support of a given treatment with the sole presence of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that show its efficacy. This would be a mistake from both an empirical and a theoretical perspective, as it runs the risk of throwing out the baby with the bathwater. In other words, endorsing a perspective according to which a specific treatment should be promoted or rejected on the sole basis of findings from RCT studies runs the risk of putting clinical science back almost twenty years from the current more advanced understanding of the efficacy, effectiveness, and usefulness of psychotherapy.