Beyond technique

by Lawrence L. LeShan

We therapists care very much about our profession and work hard at it. However, the overall outcome is often not what we wish. We get some excellent results, but a number of our patients do not make the progress we hope for them. One reason for these disheartening results is our belief that there is a best method for therapy, the method in which we were trained, which we use for all or nearly all of our patients. We all know that there is no one-size-fits-all psychotherapy, yet we generally continue to act as if there is and that, by a curious coincidence, it is ours. Our myopia ignores the diversity of the people who come to see us, some of whom would respond best to one kind of therapy, some to another. Another assumption that lowers our success rate stems from psychotherapy's mixed heritage. Because our history comes half from medicine (with its emphasis on curing) and half from the wise men and women of the tribes as well as the spiritual directors of organized religion (with their