Losing Faith in Therapy?

Scott D. Miller, bekannter Psychotherapieforscher, Leiter des Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change und früherer Mitarbeiter am BFTC in Milwaukee, dessen gemeinsame Bücher mit Barry L. Duncan und Mark A. Hubble auch in Deutschland breit rezipiert wurden, hat 2004 für das australische Magazin "Psychotherapy in Australia" einen sehr persönlichen und recht pessimistischen Aufsatz über die Wirksamkeit von Therapie unter dem Titel "Losing Faith: Arguing for a New Way to Think About Therapy" verfasst. Sein Schlusswort: "At length, I’ve come to accept that I cannot know ahead of time whether my interaction with a particular person on a given day in my office will result in a good outcome. Neither is all my knowhow, years of training and experience any guarantee. Our grand theories, clever techniques, even our best efforts to relate to and connect with others are empty - full of potential, yes, but devoid of any power or significance save that given to them by the person or people sitting opposite us in the consulting room. Thinking otherwise is not a demonstration of our faith, but actually conceit. The promises and potential notwithstanding, we simply have to start meeting and then ask, can they relate to us, to what we’re doing together at the moment? I know they will tell us. I now also have faith that, no matter the answer, the facts will always be friendly." Allen Lesern empfiehlt er jedoch, vor der Lektüre dieses Artikels den an gleicher Stelle erschienenen und gemeinsam mit Duncan und Hubble verfassten Aufsatz "Beyond Integration: the Triumph of Outcome Over Process in Clinical Practice" zu lesen.