Psychotherapy as intervention.

Abstract

Intervening or intruding into the life of an individual is the implied agreement in the therapeutic process. The question is not whether to intervene but when, how, and when not to. Our conception and philosophy of mental disorder will determine the frequence and nature of our interventions. If our goal is therapy, we must determine where and how our interventions will accelerate and enhance the process of insight and change. We should not be restrained by preconceptions of theory unless the applications of these theories enable us to achieve our therapeutic goals. Recent developments in psychoanalytic theory encourage the use of more frequent and more active interventions in the therapeutic process. Rather than routinely waiting for an impasse or obstacle to be resolved by the patient, there is a greater tendency to move in with a variety of maneuvers to overcome these hurdles. The abandonment of the fiction of anonymity and the tendency to become more actively involved in the relationship as a participant observer, rather than simply as an observer, has necessitated a more detailed analysis of the role of intervention and its counter-indications. The teaching of psychotherapy would be accelerated if the therapeutic process were viewed in terms of a series of intermediate goals. Interventions are devices through which we achieve these goals.