Beyond Technique: Psychotherapy for the 21st Century

by Lawrence 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 emphasis on healing), we often confuse the two. Curing, which involves the easing of psychological or physical pain, needs one approach. Healing, which concerns helping one grow in his or her individual way in order that the person may better cope with present and future problems, calls for another. Using vivid and detailed clinical examples, Beyond Technique shows how to change to get the therapeutic goals you want. Dr. LeShan demonstrates the means to create individual psychotherapy tailored to each patients's needs. With this perspective, LeShan brings psychotherapy into the present, revealing its improved form for the future.

216 pages, Hardcover

First published February 1, 1995

About the author

Also wrote as Edward Grendon.

Reviews

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. 2.5 stars. The first half of this was interesting, in a general kind of way... and it got me thinking in bigger picture ways about how I want to be with my clients.... but the second half of it was pretty uninteresting and even kind of frustrating. It's dated, overall, and there are many better therapy books I could have read. But it had been sitting on my shelf for a while and I wanted to put it to rest!