“There’s Nothing So Good as a Practical Theory”: Some Aphorisms for Doing Good Therapy

Abstract

If doing good therapy were easy, everyone would be doing life-changing therapy in every moment of every session. But, it’s not so easy and, despite most clinicians’ best efforts, we aren’t all doing our best work all the time. This may be because layered on top of any therapy are innumerable theories, techniques, philosophies, worldviews, and interpersonal dynamics. Here, I present a series of plain-spoken statements about therapy that invite therapists to think about it in an oversimplified way. I believe such an approach can elucidate some simple truths about how to do good therapy that otherwise may sometimes be obfuscated by the aforementioned layers. Because what constitutes good therapy seems to encompass multiple theoretical orientations, I have presented my ideas absent a predominant one. Finally, I have asserted my positions in all-or-nothing terms to instigate reactions and stimulate thought, though it is understood that the truth of these matters is not so certain. Thus, I invite each reader to determine for herself and himself whether my ideas validly correspond with her or his own experiences, or not, and then to take them or leave them, in accordance with this judgment.