About Psychotherapy

It seems to me that therapy falls into three basic categories: 

1. Analytical psychotherapy, as in Freud, Jung and their respective followers. In this model the therapist listens to the client’s story and then offers feedback as to where,when and why the client’s feelings and views developed, how they are shaping present behavior and what this means.

2. Counseling (therapy), as in Adler and those that followed- Ellis and Beck are prime examples. In this model the therapist collaborates to set goals with the client and then strategizes with the client behaviors designed to achieve these goals. The therapist advises a pattern of development (for example, in CBT), which the client practices to achieve goals.

3. Person-centered psychotherapy as in William James and those who came after him, Carl Rogers being the most well known. In this model the therapeutic alliance between client and therapist is of paramount importance. The therapist recognizes that the client is “the best expert.”  The therapist is not there to advise, diagnose or direct the client but, rather, to collaboratively find catharses and solutions through empathy and dialogue with the client. While drawing on ideas from all three, Belief Psychotherapy falls more into this third category than any other, though it is informed by all three.