Abstract

The problem. The purpose of this study was to describe and analyze the phenomena of dialogical approaches to psychotherapy. ;Method. A dialogical-phenomenological study was conducted, and five psychotherapists whose approaches to therapy were known to be significantly influenced by dialogical philosophy were interviewed. The interviews were one-to-one, semi-structured, in-depth interviews. Data were analyzed dialogically among a committee of five. ;Results. The five approaches to psychotherapy were found to be dialogical in character, different from one another in individual and school characteristics, and similar to one another in focus, and in their models of wellness, psychopathology, and healing. ;The six conclusions from the study were these: the approaches were dialogical , including those elements most fundamental to the therapeutic application of dialogical philosophy; each therapist revealed that he or she had been significantly influenced by the dialogical philosophy of Martin Buber and Maurice Friedman; and each competently employed dialogical language; the dialogical approaches differed from one another in individual and school characteristics, as well as in the presence or absence of particular dialogical elements; a common focus on the interhuman relationship was observed, a relationship having three components: the self as distinct from the other, the other as distinct from the self, and the interconnection between the two in the present moment; a common model of wellness was shared by the therapists--that of a delineated self whose "response-ability" to the other enables the mutual entering of relation; a common view of psychopathology was held --that while describable in DSM-IV and other psycho-diagnostic terms, it is ultimately a sickness of relationships, which itself inhibits healthy interhuman relations; a common model of facilitating healing was found in the co-processes of inclusion and mutual call-and-response