Mind or brain? Where does therapeutic change originate? A reaction to "The reunion process: A new focus in short-term...

In "The Reunion Process: A New Focus in Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy," by Dr. Sandler (see record 2007-09422-001), addresses posttreatment relapse by a new therapeutic strategy based on attachment theory and recent research findings concerning the neurobiology of memory. This strategy involves the discovery or creation of positive childhood maternal attachment memories as a method of overcoming the dominance of negative memories. Dr. Sandler makes assumptions about what can be achieved in short-term therapies, the pace of therapeutic change, as well as the role in treatment outcome of techniques versus therapist skill and relationship factors. These assumptions are not supported by psychotherapy research. While the attempt to use new discoveries from neurobiology to guide the development of therapeutic techniques is admirable, the author appears to engage in a fair amount of speculative theoretical reductionism in attempting to explain the eventually positive outcome of the case he presents. I offer a more parsimonious psychological explanation, which is consistent with the short-term dynamic psychotherapy theory of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).