ABSTRACT
Although psychotherapy with individuals is commonly thought to have begun with Breuer and Freud (1893/1955) in Vienna around the turn of the century, and group psychotherapy with Moreno (1972), the problem of the meaning of life and human existence is as old as mankind itself. Forms of what we might now call psychotherapy have been in existence far longer than 100 years. Freud started with the analysis of hysteria, and with Breuer he gave meaning to the symptoms. At last the enigma of psychological symptoms had been solved by finding an interpretation of the hidden meaning to questions that had eluded thinkers for centuries. This was the great achievement from which the entire psychodynamic movement began, and which formed the basis of many of the psychotherapy methods that are in use today. Learning theory originated from different roots in the study of observed behaviour. As long ago as 1693 Locke was recommending a form of graduated exposure to the feared situation as a method of treatment. Interestingly, the development of all forms of psychotherapy is essentially a phenomenon of the twentieth century.
