COMMON FACTORS OR PROCESSES OF CHANGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

To better identify and understand the role of common factors in psycho therapy, I argue that we should begin with what therapists actually do in psychotherapy, rather than what they say they do. Further, in cont rast to Weinberger's position, I argue that there is not yet any convi ncing evidence regarding the causal role of any common factors in psyc hotherapy outcome, although research to determine the possible causal role of these and other potential change factors is sorely needed. Fin ally, I suggest that common factors are not isolated entities that sho uld be taken out of context, but may more fruitfully be considered as complex, multidimensional and interactive processes that are affected by context and change over time. I believe that an important challenge for future work in common factors is the development of theories of t he processes of change that include a variety of factors (common and s pecific) and their interactions.