ABSTRACT
There are many complex issues involved in understanding the role of affect in various forms of psychotherapy, and to review them all is beyond the scope of this chapter. Recently, however, Greenberg and Safran (1989) have presented such a review. They emphasize that no single school of psychotherapy has encompassed all the ways in which affect plays a role in change resulting from psychotherapy and that there is no broad integrative theory. In addition, they review the empirical literature on affect and psychotherapy, dividing it into three major categories: affect expression in catharsis, affect arousal in anxiety-reduction, and the role of affect in “experiencing” in psychotherapy.
