Truth therapy/lie therapy.

Abstract

In this paper an attempt is made to conceptualize a basic dimension of various psychotherapeutic treatment modalities, especially psychoanalysis and psychoanalytically oriented psychotherapy. The central variable under consideration is the extent to which each endeavors to approach the truth within both patient and therapist as it exists dynamically in terms of their spiraling unconscious communicative interaction. That treatment modality which takes into account every possible dimension of such truths is termed truth therapy. Treatment modalities that make no attempt to arrive at these truths or that deliberately or inadvertently falsify their nature are termed lie or barrier therapies. Extensive consideration is given to truth therapy and the truth system on which it is based. The basis for the need for lie therapies is explored, and lie systems, which may arise from either patient or therapist, or both, are identified. A classification of common types of lie patients and lie therapists (and their main techniques) is offered. The implications of this delineation for our understanding of the dynamic therapies are discussed, and a number of new clinical issues arising from this perspective are addressed.