The Y model: an integrated, evidence-based approach to teaching psychotherapy competencies

The authors' goal was to develop an integrated model for teaching psychotherapy competencies across schools of therapy.

The authors surveyed the comparative psychotherapy process literature to identify core features of psychotherapy shared across schools and differentiate those features from the defining features of psychodynamic therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy.

The resulting Y Model for teaching psychotherapy competencies locates core processes of therapy that are shared across schools on the stem of the Y, differentiates psychodynamic therapy and cognitive-behavioral therapy on the branches of the Y, and locates supportive therapy largely on the stem of the Y.

The Y Model offers an efficient, integrated, evidence-based system for teaching psychotherapy competencies across schools in a conceptually clear way that is free of competition and bias between schools.