ABSTRACT
Over the years, mental health clinicians, theoreticians, and supervisors have perpetuated the unfortunate myth that the patient who is really “cured” by psychotherapy terminates after an effective course of treatment never to return (except perhaps to present the therapist with a potted plant and to thank him or her for all of the invaluable assistance received). Since a truly useful course of psychotherapy is viewed as having a prophylactic (i.e., preventive) effect, the patient who returns for additional treatment is a walking indictment of a therapy's (or a therapist's) deficits.
