A Common Language for the Psychotherapies?

The account of mental processes emerging from the work of cognitive psychologists is briefly reviewed, and aspects of the theoretical basis of the work of psychoanalytic and behaviourist psychotherapists are considered in the light of this. It is argued that in both traditions increasing attention is being paid to cognitive processes. A restatement of psychoanalytic theory in cognitive terms could free it from its present confusion of metaphors, and an extension of behaviourist theory in this direction could free it from reductionism. The advantages of the adoption of a common language, based on the models of cognitive psychology, to theory, practice and research are briefly considered.