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ABSTRACT Person-centred therapy is compared to the psychodynamic approach defined by Hans Strupp and Jeffrey Binder. Their broad-based time-limited version is chosen because it is a precise manual of how to practise that has been assembled from 30 years of research and practice experience. It is demonstrated that person-centred practice and theory are psychodynamic in a general psychoanalytic sense because they refer to unconscious processes. Furthermore, it is proposed that person-centred practice could be enriched by reconsidering the differences to and similarities with psychodynamic therapy, thereby establishing greater clarity about each form of practice and further defining the boundary between these similar forms of relationship and feeling-oriented work.
The paper's perspective
Two influential ways of working in therapy are the psychodynamic set of practices, as represented by Strupp & Binder (1984), and the person-centred style which has been clarified by more recent writers in the UK, USA and Canada (Farber et al., 1996; Mearns, 1994, 1996, 1997; Mearns & Thorne, 1988; Rennie, 1998; Thorne, 1992). This paper compares and contrasts these approaches so that person-centred practitioners may have a wider understanding of the reasons for making the practical and ethical intervention choices open to them. The first section below recaps some of the main shared principles of relating in each tradition. This is a preparatory step to discuss the role of person-centred therapists from a psychodynamic perspective, in an attempt to acknowledge the importance of the full range of feelings that arise for person-centred therapists. The point is to further clarify details of the core conditions and to use therapist feeling to positive ends for both therapists and clients (Brazier, 1993; Tudor & Worrall, 1994).
The paper has three aims. The first is to compare and contrast the two approaches and to note the main areas of difference and similarity with respect to practice. It is hoped to begin an informed debate of the importance of gaining a wide understanding of practice and theory. The second aim is to critique person-centred theory and practice by way of this comparison and discussion, in order to develop and clarify it with respect to its key terms. The third aim is to note that both forms of therapy are psychodynamic in a broad sense: both concern the...