Individuality

A threatened concern in the era of "evidence- based" practice?

Abstract

Despite robust clinical and empirical literatures suggesting the importance of therapists' attunement to clients' individuality, current trends in conceptualizing psychotherapy effectively minimize considerations of individual difference. The popularity of studies of specific techniques targeting discrete disorders has had the unintended side-effect of marginalizing consideration of factors such as temperament, attachment style, defence, developmental challenge, affect structure, relational pattern, implicit cognition, religious belief, cultural context, and sexual orientation that affect the health of the therapeutic alliance and the success of therapy. Current pressures may also militate against practitioners' attending carefully to their own individuality and its role in influencing therapeutic relationships. Practitioners and researchers are urged to give more consideration to this traditional area of concern.