subject: Diagnosis, Best Practices and the Person for Effective Psychotherapy [print this page] Diagnosis, Best Practices and the Person for Effective Psychotherapy
It takes more than a diagnosis and best practice psychotherapy methods for effective psychotherapy. Diagnosis can sometimes leadto a choice of psychotherapy method(s), but not without recognition of the person and his or her experience. Certain attributes of the psychotherapist, match with the client and a strong partnership throughout the process of psychotherapy are alsojust as important.
Most psychotherapists agree that diagnosis is prone to bias, but I have seen that many psychotherapists who actually use the Diagnostician's Statistical Manual (DSM) as it's meant to be useddo come up with the same diagnosis most of the time when they see the person at approximately the same point. Presentation often changes as environment and the individual change, though, so several psychotherapists who diagnose at different points in the person's experience will come up with varied diagnoses. Humanistic and integrative (multi-approach)practitioners can and do separate out diagnosis from the person in a manner that allows for the insurance company's required and valid diagnosis if they are using the DSM correctly, although the diagnosis will sometimes only be valid right then. Diagnosis never tells the whole story and isn't meant to.
A diagnosis can be somewhat helpful for choosing best practice methods, but only when the methods fit the individual, and we needn't lose the focus on that individual's experience and dynamic potential as we explore what might be helpful. Psychotherapists must be able to balance these perspectives and use them judiciously to avoid the dangers of; labeling the person, choosing psychotherapy methods that aren't a good match for the person; or aren't genuine to the psychotherapist, while still really connecting with and seeing the whole person.of: labeling the person; choosing psychotherapy methods that aren't a good match for the person; or aren't genuine to the psychotherapist, while still really connecting with and seeing the whole person.
This is "where the rubber meets the road," as a favorite professor used to say. To carry the analogy a bit further, misuse of a diagnosis is usually dependent on the driver's -- the psychotherapist's --commitment to avoiding the aforementioned dangers, and thisrequires anhonestlyself-aware psychotherapist with a good measure of intelligence, knowledgeand emotional maturity. This doesn't mean that ifthe psychotherapisthasmore or less of these attributes, he or she can't do wellbythe client. I'm not referring here to perfection, but to general attributes. Still, the individual client, if able, can help her- or himself by indicating what feels right and helpful and what doesn't in therapy. In fact, for effective psychotherapy, the process must be driven by this team of client and psychotherapist -- not drivenby diagnosis or a scripted psychotherapy method, but only informed by these.
