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The Ability To Love As A Therapist-Offered Condition For Effective Therapeutic Encounter, Allan David Edson

Graduate Theses

This report begins with a historical reconstruction of the concept of therapist effectiveness in psychotherapy.

The ultimate objective is to further the work of Truax, Carkhuff, Bergin, et. al., by proposing that there is a still more basic comprehensive therapist-offered condition than accurate empathy, non-possessive warmth and genuineness. The thesis, as developed in this report, demonstrates that the aforementioned three conditions are merely constituents of the therapist's "ability to love."

Explained within, are the proposed reasons "why" the therapist's "ability to love" effects constructive personality change and the implications of the thesis for development of new models of psychotherapeutic technique, …