The transtheoretical comparison framework
How to compare systems that do not agree about what a person is.
Systems of psychotherapy cannot be compared on their own terms, because each defines the criteria that favour it. The transtheoretical solution is to ask the same set of questions of every system, whether or not the system regards those questions as important.
The ten processes of change
What the therapy actually does, stripped of vocabulary. Most systems use three or four heavily and neglect the rest.
| Process | In practice |
|---|---|
| Consciousness raising | Interpretation, feedback, education, self-monitoring |
| Catharsis / dramatic relief | Evoking and expressing avoided affect |
| Self-reevaluation | Values clarification; reappraising oneself in relation to the problem |
| Environmental reevaluation | Considering the problem’s effect on others |
| Self-liberation | Choosing, committing, believing change is possible |
| Social liberation | Changing the conditions rather than the person; advocacy |
| Counterconditioning | Exposure, relaxation, assertion, defusion, opposite action |
| Stimulus control | Rearranging the environment |
| Contingency management | Managing consequences |
| Helping relationship | The alliance itself as an agent of change |
The five content levels
Where a system aims. Ordered from most to least accessible, and systems tend to enter at their preferred level and work from there.
- 1Symptom and situational problems
- 2Maladaptive cognitions
- 3Current interpersonal conflicts
- 4Family and systems conflicts
- 5Intrapersonal conflicts
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