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Between Conviction and Uncertainty: Philosophical

Posted By: Jerry N. Downing
Date: Friday, 28 July 2000, at 12:57 p.m.

Downing, Jerry N. (2000). Between conviction and uncertainty: Philosophical guidelines for the practicing psychotherapist. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

A volume in the SUNY series, Alternatives in Psychology, Michael A. Wallach, editor.

At a time when scores of seemingly incompatible theories and methods are competing for ascendancy in psychotherapy, one could argue that the crucial intellectual and moral dilemmas of this field are largely philosophical in nature. Yet most psychotherapists are never formally exposed to philosophical thinking during their training years or subsequent careers. This book aims to bridge this gap by examining and clarifying the philosophical context--epistemological, scientific, moral--within which psychotherapy functions. It establishes the necessity of maintaining a creative tension--a dialectic--between conviction and uncertainty in the work of the therapist, and, more importantly, explores in depth the intellectual and emotional barriers to doing so.

Rather than recommending a specific approach on the level of theory or method, the book develops a general moral/philosophical framework which is relevant both to those practitioners who identify with a single school of therapy and those who advocate an eclectic/integrationist stance toward the field. It is directed to the busy clinician, clinical supervisor, or clinical trainee, as well as to readers with theoretical and philosophical interests in psychotherapy.

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