White Fronted Bee Eaters

To suggest that the client-therapist relationship has no impact on treatment outcome would just be silly given consideration of the past few weeks’ readings and discussions. It also seems sort of silly to say that any strategy implemented to facilitate psychological treatment is anything but “person-centered.” While the role of the therapist may vary depending on theoretical orientation, it can be argued that the “person,” or “client” (a term popularized by Rogers), represents the key variable in the therapeutic equation. Specifically, regardless of the approach (ie. CBT, interpersonal, even electro-shock therapy), assessment, evaluation and monitoring of a treatment’s success or failure is ultimately communicated (directly via patient self-report, indirectly via behavioral observations, etc.) by the person/client. Thus, while Castonguay and Kirschenbaum address a crucial issue, the novelty is…well…the opposite of found.

On a different note, I would like to briefly address one of the “core” conditions Rogers identified as a crucial component of effective psychotherapy. Rogers and his followers report that “therapists or counselors who are accurately empathic, nonpossessively warm in attitude, and genuine, are indeed effective.” That said, I know of at least 4 lovely human beings who will make fabulous, effective therapists. However, if one defines empathy strictly and literally as “the capability to share and understand another's emotions and feelings,” it can be suggested that, taken to the extreme, empathizing with others (all others) may stress/strain one’s own capacity to cope. Thus, as therapists, actively excessive empathy may just give us that little extra boost allowing us to surpass the African white-fronted bee eater and claim the title of the most altruistic species ever.