Three approaches to psychotherapy III. Part 1

Dr. Strupp is a Psychodynamic therapist and a distinguished Professor of Psychology at Vanderbilt University. His work is based on an interpersonal model. He believes it is useful to view a patient’s problem as disturbances in interpersonal relationships. He says that “Patients rigidly cling to the past, and they do so by cyclical maladaptive patterns”. The therapist’s role, he says, is to call them to the patient’s attention, to help the patient explore the ramifications of the pattern in the patient’s current life, and to provide a new relationship that can, at the very least, help to mitigate earlier damage. In his interview with the client Richard, Dr. Strupp skilfully draws from the patient the scenarios that help to identify Richard’s maladaptive patterns.