ABSTRACT

This chapter explains how the positive may be usefully attended to in individual psychotherapy. It begins by examining in summary fashion how this is typically done within the three major theory clusters that have been extensively scrutinized, both theoretically and empirically: cognitive-behavioral, humanistic-experiential, and psychoanalytic-psychodynamic. Much cognitive-behavioral work currently focuses on the treatment and remediation of disorders and such work is usually very clearly oriented toward remediation of these disorders without any particular attention to or incorporation of clients strengths into the treatment. The humanistic therapist's obvious faith in the individual's inner capacity for growth, and the positive ambience the therapist seeks to create, left unaddressed are the specific ways in which the therapist might foster or, especially, build on strengths. Treatment within the psychoanalytic-psychodynamic perspective, there has been an historical tendency to ignore people's strengths, and instead to pay very close attention to psychopathology, even in relatively well-functioning people.