The relationship I had with my last T meant the world to me. I felt cared for and loved by him. It truly was a corrective emotional experience.

But as far as the research goes, I don't have much faith in psychotherapy research since it does not follow the "gold standard" of scientific research protocol-double-blind, controlled studies. It's also not uncommon to limit the study participants to those with one thing wrong with them (i.e., moderate depression) which is a sample that is certainly not representative of the population, who often show up in psychiatrists' offices with more than one disorder. Many participants are college students, who might be away from home for the first time. Students with an initial onset of depression might not have the same treatment needs as, for example, pre-menopausal women whose children recently left for college.

But don't you know it's really CBT that can cure everything now (modality; irrespective of relationship)? I know there are research limitations with every field, some more than others, but seriously, there is a newer trend to prescribe CBT to patients for pain in lieu of pharmaceutical pain relief. Insomnia. Fibromyalgia. Injuries. Chronic disease. Because of 'evidence' found through research, many (if not most) patients in the UK have no other option than CBT.

I'm in relational psychotherapy myself but many people have been harmed by relational therapy. I think the side effects of this type of therapy have been ignored or minimized. I'm not anti-CBT either but just want to express caution when interpreting evidence that research informs.

People with good relational skills are more likely to exceed in work, school, family...and yes, psychotherapy.

And what stopdog said.

Afterthought: I think modality does matter in many cases.