ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an interview of Richard L. Wessler, who has been professor ofpsychology and chairman of the department at Pace University in Westchester, New York, since 1974. Concurrently, he practises at the Multimodal Therapy Institute and supervises at the Institute for Behavior Therapy, both in New York City. He received his doctoral degree in clinical psychology from Washington University, and held several academic and administrative posts prior to developing an interest in cognitive behaviour therapy. His current interests include the convergence and integration of psychotherapeutic approaches, to which he adds the usually missing spiritual aspects. In 1982, Richard became dissatisfied with some of the more doctrinaire aspects of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET). His dissatisfaction with theory-bound therapy practices and therapists’ routines that ignore diagnosis and assessment led him to decide to leave the fold’ of RET and seek a more comprehensive therapy. In the interview Richard discusses some of the dilemmas he experienced following that decision.
