Application to Psychotherapy: Deterministic Interventions

Abstract

We describe qualitatively how the Fokker-Planck equation can be applied to modeling the dynamics of psychotherapy. In this chapter, we focus on the deterministic term of the equation exclusively, i.e., on how the gradient of the potential function (the slope of the attractor) can be modified and/or how an attractor can be shifted to a different location in state space. To illustrate deterministic interventions, we have to differentiate between the four main clusters of psychotherapy modalities—behavioral, psychodynamic, humanistic-experiential, and systemic psychotherapy. Based on their differing treatment philosophies, change processes are accomplished in diverse ways. In systemic and especially humanistic therapies, which follow constructivist and nondirective assumptions, therapeutic changes will rather arise from contextual interventions, i.e., they are based on common factors. We elaborate on this type of deterministic intervention as consistent with general principles of self-organization, demonstrated by the example of the Benard system. Behavior therapy rests on a different mechanism of change by using specific techniques, i.e., by the direct applications of psychological learning theory. This is also true, albeit in different shape, for psychoanalysis and psychodynamic therapy.