Every culture has included individuals who were known for their extraordinary abilities to reduce distress and enhance health, but only in recent times have attempts been made to identify, systematize, measure, and teach these aptitudes. In this presentation, the various strands that have formed the basis of the profession of counseling or psychotherapy will be briefly highlighted-from the works of shamans, laboratory scientists, and Freud and his followers, to those of Carl Rogers and other person-centered practitioners.

Various systems of psychotherapy, as well as several modalities of treatment (individual, couple, family and group) will be examined in this program. Particular emphasis will be placed on the interface between major schools of thought, such as cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and existential-humanistic perspectives, and their use in different kinds of treatment formats. Cultural and contextual variables will be infused throughout these conversations.

Several controversies within the profession will be discussed, such as whether therapy ought to focus only on alleviating the symptoms of the mentally ill, or whether it should be available to all individuals as they encounter problems of everyday living. The empirically-validated treatment movement has had quite an impact on practitioners, but many clinicians contend that not all good therapy is quantifiable and that simply asking clients whether counseling was helpful to them is often the best gauge of "success".

Location: Webster University, OMV Conference Center Berchtoldgasse 1 1220 Vienna
Guest lecture with Kathleen Ritter, Ph.D. California State University, Bakersfield