Listening to Our Clients: A Dangerous Proposal

Although therapeutic thinking and practice have entered their second century, most practitioners remain largely uncertain as to what data to trust, including “what works” and, “why it works.” If anything, practitioners reliance on ever-increasing numbers of theoretical models and either vague or contradictory research findings as primary guidelines to their practice has added to the confusion. What can the practitioner trust?

This paper puts forward the “dangerous proposal” that it is of primary value for clinical professionals to place their trust on an often overlooked variable: the clients’ statements about their therapy and their relationship to and with their therapist. It is argued that through the clarification of this variable will emerge a better understanding of the nonspecific variables of the therapeutic relationship itself and, as significantly, of the encompassing interrelational realms of discourse evident in all therapeutic models.