TOTEL Therapy: An Outline

Abstract

A fundamental problem in the area of human values is the mechanism by which values affect overt behavior. The idea that values have a powerful directive force on behavior is intuitively appealing but difficult to operationalize. As Guthrie (1952) contended when he said that Tolman's learning theory left the rat in the maze "buried in thought," cognitive theories have tended to be insufficiently specific about the nature of the cognition-behavior relationship. Cognitive theories have traditionally criticized the oversimplifications of behavior theories rather than provide workable alternative conceptualizations (Bergin 1970).Recent cognitive approaches to psychotherapy (Beck 1970; Mahoney 1974;Meichenbaum 1975) have made considerable progress toward giving the clinician operational and testable alternatives to conditioning procedures. These newer cognitive therapies have concentrated on changing clients' behavior by altering highly specific, irrational beliefs about themselves and their environment; however, they have paid little attention to the more existential, valuing aspects of human experience. The most profound value dilemmas confronting many clients continue to be out of the province of scientific theories of psychotherapy.In the current theoretical environment, multidimensional therapists who wish to serve the total client often find themselves radically shifting conceptual bases during the course of therapy. They may alternate interpretive therapy based on existential or dynamic approaches with cognitive restructuring procedures and behavior therapy techniques. There is a great need for unifying conceptualizations that will specify not only relationships among individual beliefs and behaviors but also relationships between these elements and cardinal life-directing values. Ronald P. Matross is a Research Associate, Student Life Studies, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.