| Abstract: | The author critically examines F. Alexander's seminal and prescient 1963 paper and contends that it authoritatively delineated theoretical and technical variables and constructs in psychotherapy. It foreshadowed and contributed to the evolution, proliferation, exploration, and scientific documentation of psychotherapy theory and technique as it is broadly understood. It anticipated biographical examinations of early innovators and the assimilation and accommodation of changes in the psychotherapy knowledge base. The paper also anticipated the evolution and democratization of new forms of therapy in the medical marketplace. It ignored the potential multidisciplinary contributions in general systems theory, hermeneutics and linguistics, gender and cultural differences, and psychopharmacotherapy. However, its conclusions have been generally incorporated in generic clinical psychotherapeutic training. A more complex incorporation of the paper's findings in real-time practice has yet to occur. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
