ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the distinctive features of pluralistic therapy, and shows how it represents one particular style of 'plain old therapy'. It provides a concrete example of how pluralistic therapy works in practice. Pluralistic therapy comprises a 'meta-theory' or practice framework that functions as a means of harnessing the ideas, knowledge and experience of both the client and the therapist. A pluralistic therapist may be someone with primary training and experience in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), psychodynamic therapy, person-centred/experiential therapy, narrative therapy or in some combination of these (and other) traditions. Some significant aspects of the thinking behind pluralistic therapy are briefly mentioned: the necessity for therapists to be informed by a cultural and political perspective, the complex question of the relationship between research and practice, the nature of therapist training and professional development and the relevance of an appreciation of unconscious processes.
