ABSTRACT
Despite the similarities in psychotherapy, there are some specific and sometimes contradictory differences between current approaches to psychotherapy. While such differences are sometimes disheartening to the student, they should be viewed as representing an early stage in the development of more commonly acceptable and verifiable procedures. In discussions concerning psychotherapy in clinical case conferences as well as in published reports, a distinction is frequently made between supportive and reconstructive modes of psychotherapy. Attempts at systematic psychotherapy began about the turn of the century. This is not to say that prior to that time no psychotherapy of any type had been used. In traditional psychoanalytic treatment the patient is expected to meet with the analyst from three to five times per week, although some reduction in the frequency of meetings may occur after treatment has progressed for some time. The variations of psychotherapeutic approaches differ in numerous ways with regard to both theory and method.
