Member-only story
How Therapists Use the Self During Therapy
How therapists “use the self” to enhance therapeutic process and outcomes is poorly understood but very important. Research spells out three key aspects.
How therapy progresses depends a great deal on who the therapist is, their style, and how they work, even for approaches like cognitive-behavioral therapy which are often presented as following a formula or manual. Therapy is, as they say, “operator-dependent”.
The therapist’s self, and the way it is wielded, is key to whether therapy works. Each patient-therapist pair follows a unique path, even if the ultimate goals of therapy are the same. Within relatively rigid constraints, therapy can unfold in many different ways.
How Does Therapy Work?
There are many different ways to arrive at desired therapeutic outcomes-a more secure, confident sense of self, better relationship and professional function, treatment for depression, anxiety and other conditions, reduced negative thinking, better self-understanding, and so on. Goals also evolve over time, making defining goals itself a meta-goal of therapy.
Therapies share “ common factors”, the extent to which the therapist is supportive, empathetic and…
