Blog 66. Psychotherapy – The Wheel Reinvented

One of the consequences of being older and more experienced as a psychotherapist is that you discover that the wheel is reinvented for each new generation. It is probably more pronounced with psychotherapy because there has not been anything new for many years.

Same Group of Patients and Clients

All the methods are intended for the same group of patients and clients. Fairly well-functioning persons who understand that he needs help and will accept receiving support. For the methods to work, he needs to be in contact with himself emotionally, trust and open up to the therapist and cooperate (come to meetings, be there during the whole session, sit in his chair, if not told otherwise, not be influenced by drugs or alcohol). Shortly, the therapeutic meeting is a very limited and secluded human encounter.

The Relationship

The critical question for me is: What is so special about this encounter. For me, it is the relationship between the therapist and the client. It is a constructed situation, in many ways the same as between priests and congregation members. One person, the therapist, is entirely committed to the client and his needs.

The therapist has to put away all his personal wants and demands. On the other hand, the client is focused on himself and his problems. For me, this distribution of roles is an essential thing about psychotherapy. For the client, the therapist’s relationship with him is what matters most. Research has confirmed the importance of the relationship. On the other hand, for the therapist, the theory and method are much more important. I think the method helps him keep an emotional distance and simultaneously be committed to the client.

Relationship vs. Method

The energy in the therapist’s relationship with the client is a crucial factor in helping him. Imagine a technique where you stand on your head for half an hour each day (like in yoga). If the therapist is very engaged in the method, believes in its power to heal, and truly wants to help the client through the method, it is an excellent probability that it will work.

I believe the therapist’s commitment to the method is one of the reasons for inventing new therapies or reinventing them. It is easier to believe in something new and untested than in old, established psychotherapy. The hope is more robust in the newly born precisely because all possibilities remain open.

Same Mechanism

Even if psychotherapy is artificial, it utilizes the same mechanism as every other human relationship. As you already may have guessed, I favor existential-humanistic psychology. It includes, for example, Gestalt therapy, most forms of family therapy, Rogers’ client-centered therapy, transactional analysis, and therapeutic community. (I am trained in psychodrama and Rogers’ client-centered therapy.)

The Humanistic Approach

The most important thing about this school of thought is the humanistic view of man.

Everyone has a positive core in his psyche. It means that all human beings, deep down, have constructive energy, which drives them. No person wants to do harm to himself or others. This positive energy is the basic motivation of all human beings. Even if a client, on the surface, is very destructive in his behavior, he still has this positive core.

The Meaning of All Kinds of Psychotherapy

The meaning of all kinds of psychotherapy is to strengthen this positive energy through the relationship with the therapist. Even if the method itself says that is a special technique, that is the reason for the patient’s positive change. When the therapist concentrates on the method, he is unaware of the impact of his relationship with the patient. Therefore, this factor of change can work spontaneously without any conscious restrictions.

In this way, psychotherapy is only one form out of many forms of interaction. The fundamental idea of all human encounters is to give each other positive energy so that the positive core can stay strong and full of energy. Consequently, we depend on each other (Motivational Work, Part 2: Motivational Relationship, pages 263 – 270).

All psychic problems result from a weakened positive core.