Ways of Knowing and Visions of Reality in Psychoanalytic Therapy And Behavior Therapy

Abstract

In an article exploring limits to the integration of psychoanalytic and behavior therapies (Messer & Winokur, 1980), we suggested that the barrier between them resides primarily in the contrasting perspectives on reality and the different visions of life they embody. Psychoanalytic therapists, we argued, focus on the inner world of experience, emphasizing clients’ introspection and subjectivity. By contrast, behavior therapists were seen as more preoccupied with the outer world of consensual reality, approaching clients within a more objective and external framework. We tried to show how these perspectives influence, in turn, the nature of the techniques employed and the treatment goals emphasized in each form of therapy.