Beyond Psychotherapy: Dialectical Therapy

Dialectical therapy is a common factors approach to psychotherapy integration, in which four general therapeutic strategies are taken as the cardinal points of a map of the field. It is said to be beyond psychotherapy because what is commonly referred to as psychotherapy is more than psychological treatment. It is a dialectic between two basic levels or axes: the psychological remaking, which deals with defect-driven disorders, and the philosophical uncovering, which deals with conflict-driven problems. The first level can be graphically represented as the horizontal axis of the field, connecting a maternal and a paternal pole, in which the therapist responds to the basic psychological needs of secure attachment and responsible cooperation. The second level can be represented as the vertical axis of the field, connecting a K (knowledge) vertex and an O (unknown) vertex, in which the therapist responds to the basic philosophical needs of knowledge (know thyself) and of unknown as unknowable (the noumenon of all phaenomena, the source of generative and healing powers). A map is necessary to organize the basic therapeutic needs and the range of responses to them in a coherent pattern. As a good map can help in orienting empirical research, this in turn can help in constructing better maps.