The contemporary psychotherapeutic landscape: Issues and prospects.

Abstract

As Jerome Frank (1973) elucidated in his influential book, Persuasion and Healing, psychotherapy is an institution with roots that are both broad and deep. Historically, its development can be traced to the shamans, priests, rabbis, and faith healers that have responded to the spiritual and psychological needs of humankind at least since the dawn of recorded history. More currently, Frank suggested, it has strong affinities not only with the continuing application of those earlier practices but also with placebo processes in medicine and with a variety of practices of persuasion, including some-such as the "thought reform" practiced by totalitarian regimes-that are far from benign.Frank's intention was not to tar psychotherapy with the brush of political repression, nor simply to declare that it is "nothing new." Rather, he was attempting to offer a degree of historical and cultural perspective that was (and still is) rare in the discourse about psychotherapy in our professional journals. He also aimed to address a phenomenon that could

A metamodel of theories of psychotherapy: a guide to their analysis, comparison, integration and use

“…By contrast, behavioural theories portray symptoms as the problem. Consequently, symptom-focused theories conceive the goals of psychotherapy as a matter of symptom relief, whereas personalityfocused theories conceive the goals as a matter of personality reorganization or characterological change (Frank, 1987;Messer & Wachtel, 1997;Yalom, 1995). However, these two perspectives are not as disparate as is commonly regarded.…”

“…Consistent with the metamodel, some theories construe psychological problems as symptoms, or overt difficulties in thinking, feeling and behaving. These theories are often contrasted with theories that construe psychological problems as disorders of personality or character (Messer & Wachtel, 1997). For example, psychodynamic theories (like Freudian psychoanalysis) reject a characterization of psychological problems that emphasizes overt difficulties (i.e.…”

Evaluating Practice

“…Postmodernists believe that humans impute meaning to perceptions within social, historical, and linguistic contexts. Instead of universal truth, postmodernism is associated with multiple truths and Downloaded by [York University Libraries] at 02:58 20 November 2014 theoretical pluralism, encouraging diverse methodologies such as ethnographic study, phenomenological observation, case studies, and qualitative approaches in addition to traditional empirical studies (Messer & Wachtel, 1997). The VPPS is a type of content analysis (Suh, Strupp, & O'Malley, 1986) that reflects a postmodern emphasis on dyadic dialogue.…”

Philosophical issues in psychotherapy.

“…By contrast, the normative components of therapies that strive for scientific status and value neutrality are more difficult to recognize. However, every form of therapy contains not only descriptive features but prescriptive elements and an implicit ideology (Messer & Wachtel, 1997;Woolfolk & Richardson, 1984;Woolfolk, Sass, & Messer, 1988). For example, a therapy may disclose its aesthetic, cognitive, and moral values by how it conceptualizes mental health and psychological well-being.…”

“…At the same time it is a sensitive barometer of those customs, values, and worldviews, and is constantly incorporating them in its purview. That is, the relation between psychotherapy and culture is one of reciprocal influence (Messer & Wachtel, 1997;Woolfollc, 1998).…”