No particular psychotherapy technique or professional training has been found to be superior to others. Rather it is where theory and technique meet and come alive, in the personality of the therapist, that a definitive factor in effective psychotherapy appears. One of the personality variables in the therapist, not explored in the psychotherapy…

While established approaches to therapy help the individual adapt to an essentially fixed world, Social Therapy (a 15-year-old clinical, educational, and developmental psychology practiced in clinics and private practices in New York, Boston, and other cities, with applications to crisis, the epidemic of abuse, and educational failure) seeks to…

Last decade has seen some major impacts of feminism on institution of psychotherapy regarding theories, treatment techniques, and assessment instruments. Changes in attitudes toward women as therapists and as clients have reflected general advances of women's movement. Presented at American Psychological Association Convention, Toronto, Canada,…

This paper is an attempt to develop a therapeutic stance, responsive therapy, for counselors that abandons the effort to select the one "true" therapeutic emphasis, and is based on the assumption that all therapeutic emphases are "true." A description of counselor behavior ensues which enhances a therapeutic atmosphere, moves…

This paper addresses whether theoretical skills, meaning skills in evaluating and improving existing theories and in creating new theories, should be taught in psychology programs. Three questions are posed: (1) Should theoretical skills be taught at all?; (2) How are theoretical skills best taught?; and (3) Which theoretical skills should be…

Based on an earlier list of characteristics, ten assertions were derived about the nature of psychotherapy upon which it was believed that humanistic therapists would agree. These assertions were then submitted to three groups of therapists (111 returns) listed in the "National Register of Health Service Providers in Psychology":…

The use of touch in therapeutic relationships is seldom dealt with as a practice issue except in a proscriptive way. To gather descriptive information on the use of touch in therapy, professional therapists (N=50) whose practice was largely family therapy were interviewed about the successful use of touch in their helping relationships. Interview…

This paper reviews the literature dealing with therapist neutrality or value-free treatment processes, and proposes that therapist values do play a major role in therapy. Supposed therapist neutrality in psychoanalyses, behavior therapy, and client-centered therapy is explored. The role of therapist values in client selection is discussed, and the…

Research has shown that therapy preference affects both the quality of the initial therapy session and treatment outcome. To determine personality characteristics which would affect subjects' preference of therapeutic orientation and to obtain qualitative information about subjects' therapy preferences, 203 community college students indicated…

In a "direct" approach to psychotherapy, the therapist generally uses herself as a model and communicates her own values, thereby influencing the gender roles of her clients, particularly her female clients. In this approach, the therapist is seen as more authentic by the client, especially by clients from diverse cultural and social backgrounds.…