HOW DOES THE THEORETICAL ORIENTATION INFLUENCE THE PSYCHOTHERAPEUTIC WORK

Having a theoretical orientation is valuable to therapeutic practition ers because it reduces the complexity of the therapeutic situation. A theoretical orientation provides therapists with an essential guide to practice by equipping them with a diagnostic scheme for defining pati ents' problems, a set of health-related values specifying the goals of treatment, and - not least - with therapeutic techniques for reaching those goals. This article explores the question what impact the thera pists' theoretical orientation has on their therapeutic practice in te rms of the variables ''treatment goals'' and ''Ideal manner of relatin g to patients''. The data steam from 2376 psychotherapists who filled in the Development of Psychotherapists Common Core Questionnaire (CCQ) . The findings concerning the treatment goals show many common feature s and also some distinctive differences between theoretical orientatio ns. On the other hand we find practically no differences between theor etical orientations with regard to the ideal manner of relating to pat ients. Thus, beyond the gulfs of different theoretical orientations we find a lot of commonalities which give a hint to the importance of no n-specific working principles.