A contemporary view on psychodynamic psychotherapy and its future

This article reviews the history of psychotherapy research from the persona l view of the author. The review first looks into the basic questions relat ed to the effects of psychotherapy and the differentiation of general and s pecific factors. With the development of techniques for the study of the ps ychotherapeutic process, research has made considerable progress. The Vande rbilt projects, initiated by the author, belong to this context and focusse d primarily on the contribution of the therapist to the treatment process. In his outlook, the author formulates some research goals that might be imp ortant in a time of economic pressure.