Some General Conclusions
CHAPTER SUMMARY
KEY TERMS
WEB SITES OF INTERESTI
n this chapter, we provide a general description of
psychotherapy, describe its major features, discussissues about its efficacy and effectiveness, and present
an introduction to psychotherapy research. The focus
is on a broad overview of some of the major features
shared by different methods of clinical intervention.
These interventions go by many different names:
psychodynamic therapy, cognitive therapy, group
therapy, family therapy, behavior therapy, existential
therapy, and on and on. In some ways, each has a set
of unique defining characteristics or is directed
toward specific kinds of problems. In subsequent
chapters, we will focus on these defining characteris-
tics. Here, however, our attention is directed toward
shared features rather than differences.
Intervention Defined
In a most general way,psychological interventionis a
method of inducing changes in a person’sbehavior,
thoughts, or feelings. Although the same might also
be said for a TV commercial or the efforts of teachers
and close friends, psychotherapy involves intervention
in the context of a professional relationship—a
relationship sought by the client or the client’sguar-
dians. In some cases, therapy is undertaken to solve a
specific problem or to improve the individual’s capac-
ity to deal with existing behaviors, feelings, or thoughts
that impair functioning at work, school, or in relation-
ships. In other cases, the focus may be more on the
prevention of problems than on remedying an existing
condition. In still other instances, the focus is less on
solvingorpreventingproblemsthanitisonincreasing
the person’s ability to take pleasure in life or to achieve
some latent potential.
Over the years, many definitions of the inter-
vention process have been offered. As often as not,
the termsinterventionandpsychotherapyhave been
used interchangeably. A rather typical general
definition of psychotherapy was provided years
ago by Wolberg (1967):
Psychotherapy is a form of treatment for
problems of an emotional nature in which
a trained person deliberately establishes a
professional relationship with a patient
with the object of removing, modifying or
retarding existing symptoms, of mediating
disturbed patterns of behavior, and of
promoting positive personality growth and
development. (p. 3)
Wolberg’s definition includes such words as
symptomsandtreatment, and his subsequent elaboration
of the definition gives it a distinctly medical flavor.
Yet, overall, the definition is not much different from
one offered by a more psychologically oriented clini-
cian (Rotter, 1971a, p. 79):“Psychotherapy ...is
planned activity of the psychologist, the purpose of
which is to accomplish changes in the individual that
make his life adjustment potentially happier, more
constructive, or both.”J. D. Frank (1982) elaborates
this general theme as follows:
Psychotherapy is a planned, emotionally
charged, confiding interaction between a
trained, socially sanctioned healer and a
sufferer. During this interaction the healer
seeks to relieve the sufferer’s distress and
disability through symbolic communica-
tions, primarily words but also sometimes
bodily activities. The healer may or may
not involve the patient’s relatives and
others in the healing rituals. Psychotherapy
also often includes helping the patient to
accept and endure suffering as an inevitable
aspect of life that can be used as an
opportunity for personal growth. (p. 10)
Granted, these definitions are rather broad.
Practitioners of such specific approaches as psycho-
dynamic therapy, rational-emotive therapy, client-
centered counseling, cognitive therapy, Gestalt312 CHAPTER 11