A Linkage Theory of Personality and Psychotherapy

Abstract

Escalation in the practice of psychotherapy over the past 40 years has generated a multiplicity of theories, techniques, and practices. Many of these, however, have remained mutually exclusive—since they stemmed from different philosophies of treatment—and provide a somewhat desultory assortment from which the clinician is required to choose. Despite the marked differences among these systems of treatment, less emphasis has been directed toward identifying common elements from these different perspectives, and the present discussion attempts to redress this fractionated condition by extrapolating a “common denominator” or “generic” framework of personality and psychotherapy. Seven elemental determinants of personality are enunciated; with these a therapist may systematically diagnose and treat a patient's maladaptive adjustment. A psychodiagnostic procedure by which dysfunctional elements of personality are identified is discussed together with a therapeutic methodology which may be applied with many currently available systems of treatment.