Individual Psychology Multiple Psychotherapy

Abstract

In the 1940s, several mental health practitioners began experimenting with the use of multiple therapists. This article focuses on the contribution of Rudolf Dreikurs and Individual Psychology to this experimentation with the structure of psychotherapy. In 1946 Dreikurs and the members of his group private practice began exploring the use of multiple therapists in the treatment of clients. This grew out of his experience in the family guidance clinics begun by Alfred Adler in Vienna in the 1920s and 1930s. This exploration led to the Individual Psychology multiple psychotherapy model, with a specified sequence of interviews designed to serve as an intake to a group practice. Three other multiple therapist models, a brief therapy model, a reflection team model, and a cotherapy model, are briefly discussed, followed by a discussion of the use of these models in training and supervision.