What are the theoretical concepts that can be applied in therapeutic counselling?

The therapeutic counselling of chronically ill patients has been undergoing developments over the last 20 years. From an intuitive and empirical base, it has now achieved a system of standardisation that can serve as a guarantee of effectiveness. Training facilities for this specific mode of healing accept many types of practitioners who have chosen to work in this field. The most widespread theoretical constructs are essentially derived from psychopedagogical models that tend to encourage the development of knowledge and training of how to dispense treatment, while ignoring the clinical type of approach that is based on relationships. This report presents a critical assessment of the most frequently used clinical models as well as some of the more innovative approaches.