ABSTRACT
Although depth psychology appears to be of little help in improving our diagnoses of personality, this does not mean that it may not have other valuable practical applications. After all, the kinds of predictions discussed in the preceding chapter are somewhat narrow, artificial ones which the clinician might do better to avoid. His function is therapy, rather than forecasting vocational or other achievements. Thus we shall examine (in Chapter 8) the evidence bearing on the success of clinical methods in the treatment of emotionally disturbed children and neurotic adults, and on the value of different kinds of counselling. It will be shown that the effects of such treatment are rather different from what is commonly supposed, and that they do not necessarily ‘cure’ or ‘improve’ people any better than do the psychologically naive methods which society conventionally employs.
