Common, specific, and cross-cutting psychotherapy interventions

There are certain strategies and techniques clinicians use in session that produce significant change, at least when they are guided by an effective strategy. The following illustrates several broadly based classes of interventions along with their supporting empirically derived principles of effecting strategic change. The interventions include procedures to (a) enhance the relationship, (b) develop and maintain a therapeutic contract, and (c) adjust treatment to match to certain unique patient qualities. Classes of interventions and the strategic principles which drive them, rather than specific techniques, were the point of focus of this article out of the observation that the effects of specific techniques are therapist dependent, whereas classes of interventions produce more cross-cutting effects (see Beutler et al., Guidelines for the systematic treatment of the depressed patient. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000; Beutler and Harwood, Prescriptive psychotherapy: A practical guide to systematic treatment selection. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000). Additionally, classes of interventions can more effectively be fit to classes of moderating therapist and patient variables to allow for specialized treatment planning. In conclusion, the readers are directed to an online self-report assessment tool (www.Innerlife.com), which provides additional assistance in identifying and using interventions at this level of strategy and the research which supports them.