Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy

Psychoanalysis, individual psychology, gestalt therapy, client-centered counseling, faith healing, hypnosis, encounter groups, transactional therapy, behavior modification, and existentialist analysis are some of the different treatments available for unhappy, fearful, and anxious sufferers. The proponents of each method offer a theoretical explanation of their rationale and report sizable numbers of successes. Which is the best method? Which is the most correct theory? Are any of them of any value? Or should everyone be treated with pills or diet or surgery? Jerome D. Frank, professor of psychiatry at Johns Hopkins, believes there is real value in psychotherapy, which he describes as treatment that "relies primarily on the healer's ability to mobilize healing forces in the sufferer by psychological means." However, he believes that the principal value lies not in the postulated theoretical bases but in factors that are common to all the various forms of therapy. He points out that all patients