THIS ARTICLE explores the clinical, systemic, and interpersonal dynami
cs of conflict between therapists on a treatment team. It considers tr
eatment implications in regard to how therapists handle conflicts with
one another, and focuses attention on the pressure they experience to
resolve differences and reach consensus. Specifically, the author sug
gests that the therapist's ability to tolerate a lack of consensus, an
d to understand and accept conflicting perspectives with respect to a
given patient, can help that patient begin to tolerate and integrate h
is or her own ambivalent feelings. Such integrative efforts may enable
the patient to eventually deal with conflicting affects more directly
within a single therapeutic relationship.