The problem of psychotherapy.

The psychologist as psychotherapist: A unique role?

“…As soon as it became evident that larger numbers of psychologists were practicing psychotherapy, several discerning voices (e.g., Shaffer, 1947;Sanford, 1948;Shoben, 1949) .argued that the therapeutic functions of the 9 psychologist should look to general psychology for important leads, and that psychotherapy might best be formulated as a learning or educational process. But the lure of psychodynamics proved overwhelming, despite trenchant criticisms that had long since appeared (e.g., Wohlgemuth, 1923;Landis, 1940).…”

The clinical potential of modifying what clients say to themselves.

“…This approach is not basically new: there is a long history of educational and semantic therapies which emphasize cognitive factors and which focus on maladaptive self-verbalizations (e.g., Coue, 1922;Korzybski, 1933;Johnson, 1946;Kelly, 1955;Phillips, 1957;Ellis, 1963;and Blumenthal, 1969). Typical of this view is Shaffer (1947), who defined therapy as a "learning process through which a person acquires an ability to speak to himself in appropriate ways so as to control his own conduct [p. 463].…”

Alcohol, Alcoholism and Conditioning: A Review of the Literature and Some Theoretical Considerations

“…Furthermore, if it be conceded that all kinds of psychotherapy may be profitably conceptu alized as processes in learning or conditioning (e.g. 129,130,131,132,133,134,135,136,137,138,139,140) then the use of stimulant and depressant drugs during therapy may also be considered in terms of this rationale. It might be advisable to combine psychotherapy with a depressant drug when it is desired to extinguish a certain learned pattern of behaviour and to combine psycho therapy with a stimulant drug when new learning is being initiated.…”