Self-evaluation and choice: an existential view of paradoxical treatments

The use of the term paradox in the domain of psychotherapy is fundamentally different from its use in philosophy. Paradoxical interventions are not statements that can be both true and false but rather are agents of therapeutic change. However, this reified usage of the term has made it difficult to clarify the process by which paradoxical treatments become efficacious. These treatments can be viewed as epistemological paradoxes because they challenge traditional assumptions about the nature of psychological problems. Based on this analysis, it is argued that the effects of paradoxical treatments are mediated by a self-evaluation process that leads to a change in the meaning clients attribute to their symptoms.