A timeline of psychotherapy and counselling
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Moral treatment, hypnosis & early clinics · up to 1894
Philosophical consolation, asylum reform, moral treatment, hypnotism, suggestion, and early dynamic theories of dissociation before formal psychotherapy schools.
Psychoanalysis, talking cures & early schools · 1895 to 1939
Psychoanalysis, rational persuasion, psychological clinics, individual and analytical psychology, psychodrama, play technique, character analysis, and early cultural critiques.
Humanistic, behavioural & group turns · 1940 to 1969
Client-centred counselling, existential logotherapy, Gestalt therapy, group analysis, therapeutic communities, systematic desensitisation, attachment theory, and early cognitive therapy.
Cognitive, systemic, feminist & outcome research · 1970 to 1989
Manualised cognitive and interpersonal therapies, structural and Milan systemic family models, feminist and relational perspectives, meta-analysis, and the working alliance.
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Irvin D. Yalom publishes The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy
Stanford psychiatrist Irvin D. Yalom published the first edition of The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy, organising group treatment around empirically studied 'curative factors' (later termed therapeutic factors) and interpersonal learning.
APA PsycNet record: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (Yalom, 1970)
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Why it matters
The book became the standard international reference text for group psychotherapy training across multiple orientations, shifting focus from competing doctrinal schools toward shared mechanisms of change in groups.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Yalom articulated eleven therapeutic factors, including instillation of hope, universality, altruism, cohesiveness, catharsis, and interpersonal learning worked through in the 'here-and-now' social microcosm of the group.
Important context and scope
First published in 1970, the text has gone through six editions (most recently co-authored with Molyn Leszcz), evolving alongside empirical research on group cohesion and specialist medically ill, bereavement, and existential groups. First edition published by Basic Books in 1970
Date type
Publication year
Source
- APA PsycNet record: The Theory and Practice of Group Psychotherapy (Yalom, 1970)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Heinz Kohut publishes The Analysis of the Self
Austrian-born Chicago psychoanalyst Heinz Kohut published The Analysis of the Self: A Systematic Approach to the Psychoanalytic Treatment of Narcissistic Personality Disorders, arguing that narcissistic development follows its own developmental pathway rather than merely defending against oedipal conflict.
PEP-Web archive: The Analysis of the Self (Kohut, 1971)
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Why it matters
The book launched psychoanalytic self psychology, broadening analytic treatment to patients previously deemed 'unanalyzable' by classical ego psychology and placing sustained empathic immersion at the centre of clinical method.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Kohut described idealising and mirror transferences, including twinship as a form of mirror transference. He proposed that empathic understanding and the working through of tolerable frustrations can contribute to psychological development, a process he called transmuting internalisation.
Important context and scope
In 1971 Kohut still framed his work as an extension of classical drive theory; only in The Restoration of the Self (1977) did he break explicitly with classical metapsychology to establish a standalone psychology of the self. Published by International Universities Press in New York in 1971
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- PEP-Web archive: The Analysis of the Self (Kohut, 1971)(primary or catalogue record)
- University of Chicago Press: The Analysis of the Self, contents(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Donald W. Winnicott publishes Playing and Reality
British paediatrician and Independent Group psychoanalyst Donald W. Winnicott published Playing and Reality, expanding his classic 1953 paper on transitional objects and transitional phenomena into a comprehensive account of play, creativity, mirror-role caregiving, and therapeutic space.
PEP-Web archive: Playing and Reality (Winnicott, 1971)
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Why it matters
Winnicott's book reshaped contemporary psychodynamic, child, and creative arts therapies by defining psychotherapy itself as taking place in the overlap of two areas of playing: that of the patient and that of the therapist.
In psychotherapy and counselling
It introduced clinicians to 'potential space', the 'holding environment', the mother's (and therapist's) emotional mirroring role, and the task of helping a non-playing client become able to play and experience authentic selfhood.
Important context and scope
Playing and Reality gathered and reworked essays written between 1951 and 1970; Winnicott's foundational clinical insights emerged across four decades of paediatric consultations at Paddington Green Children's Hospital and psychoanalytic work in London. Published by Tavistock Publications in London in 1971 shortly after Winnicott's death in January 1971
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- PEP-Web archive: Playing and Reality (Winnicott, 1971)(primary or catalogue record)
- British Psychoanalytical Society: Donald Winnicott profile(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Salvador Minuchin publishes Families and Family Therapy
Argentine-born psychiatrist Salvador Minuchin, director of the Philadelphia Child Guidance Clinic, published Families and Family Therapy, presenting the theory, structural mapping, and clinical transcripts of Structural Family Therapy.
Harvard University Press record: Families and Family Therapy (Minuchin, 1974)
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Why it matters
Building on his earlier work with disadvantaged inner-city families at the Wiltwyck School (Families of the Slums, 1967), Minuchin made Structural Family Therapy one of the most widely taught and practised systemic models in the world.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Therapists actively 'joined' the family system, enacted live family interactions in the consulting room, mapped subsystems, hierarchies, and coalitions, and intervened to rebalance rigid ('disengaged') or diffuse ('enmeshed') boundaries.
Important context and scope
While Minuchin's live, directive restructuring proved highly influential across child guidance and adolescent eating-disorder treatment, later feminist and narrative family therapists critiqued early structural assumptions about normative parental hierarchies. Published by Harvard University Press in 1974
Date type
Publication year
Source
- Harvard University Press record: Families and Family Therapy (Minuchin, 1974)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Luborsky, Singer, and Luborsky publish 'Comparative Studies of Psychotherapies'
Lester Luborsky, Barton Singer and Lise Luborsky reviewed comparative studies of psychotherapy and other treatments in 1975. In comparisons between psychotherapies, most studies reported no statistically significant difference in the proportion of patients who improved.
PubMed record: Comparative studies of psychotherapies (Luborsky, Singer, and Luborsky, 1975)
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Why it matters
The authors discussed possible shared elements of psychotherapy, including the helping relationship. Their review contributed to a continuing debate about common factors and differences between treatments.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The authors cautioned against assigning patients to treatments at random: a similar amount of improvement in a study does not rule out differences in the quality of improvement.
Important context and scope
A non-significant difference is not proof that treatments are equivalent. The review summarised the studies available at the time and does not establish that all treatments work equally well for every problem or person. Published in Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 32(8), August 1975
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- PubMed record: Comparative studies of psychotherapies (Luborsky, Singer, and Luborsky, 1975)(primary or catalogue record)
- DOI record: Archives of General Psychiatry (1975)(primary or catalogue record)
- (link to this entry)
Jean Baker Miller publishes Toward a New Psychology of Women
Psychiatrist and psychoanalyst Jean Baker Miller published Toward a New Psychology of Women, challenging traditional developmental theories that treated male-normed separation and autonomy as the sole benchmark of psychological maturity while pathologising women's relational capacities.
Wellesley Centers for Women: the development of Relational-Cultural Theory
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Why it matters
The book laid the theoretical foundation for the Stone Center at Wellesley College (where Miller became inaugural director in 1981) and the collaborative development of Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) with Irene Stiver, Judith Jordan, and Janet Surrey.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Relational-Cultural Therapy reoriented clinical practice around growth-fostering relationships, mutual empathy, mutual empowerment, and the repair of chronic relational disconnections shaped by gender, race, and social power.
Important context and scope
Miller's 1976 text began as a feminist reappraisal of women's psychology; over the 1980s and 1990s the Stone Center group explicitly expanded the framework into Relational-Cultural Theory to address intersecting forms of cultural marginalisation and systemic power. First edition published by Beacon Press in Boston in 1976
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Wellesley Centers for Women: the development of Relational-Cultural Theory(institutional record)
- APA PsycNet record: Toward a New Psychology of Women (Miller, 1976)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
The British Association for Counselling is founded in the United Kingdom
Growing out of the Standing Conference for the Advancement of Counselling (convened by the National Council of Social Service in 1970), the British Association for Counselling (BAC, later the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, BACP) was formally established in 1977.
BACP, Therapy Today: history of counselling and the association (December 2012)
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Why it matters
The association extended membership to individual counsellors and became a professional body for counselling in the United Kingdom.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The association later developed professional standards, accreditation and an ethical framework for its members.
Important context and scope
The association grew from the Standing Conference for the Advancement of Counselling, a grouping of organisations inaugurated in 1970. The association traces its formation to 1977 and its change of name to 2000.
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Source
- BACP, Therapy Today: history of counselling and the association (December 2012)(institutional record)
- (link to this entry)
Smith and Glass publish the first meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies
Mary Lee Smith and Gene V. Glass published 'Meta-Analysis of Psychotherapy Outcome Studies' in American Psychologist, statistically aggregating 833 effect sizes from 375 controlled evaluations of psychotherapy and counselling.
PubMed record: Meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies (Smith and Glass, 1977)
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Why it matters
The paper applied Glass’s meta-analytic method to psychotherapy research and contributed quantitative evidence to a longstanding debate about outcomes.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The authors reported an average effect size of 0.68 and described it as the average treated person scoring above 75% of untreated controls. This is a statistical interpretation of the pooled studies, not a guarantee for an individual.
Important context and scope
The analysis combined studies with different populations, interventions, measures and designs. The average does not establish the effect of every therapy, and the conclusions depend on the quality and selection of the included studies. Published in American Psychologist, Vol. 32(9), September 1977 (expanded in The Benefits of Psychotherapy, 1980)
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- PubMed record: Meta-analysis of psychotherapy outcome studies (Smith and Glass, 1977)(primary or catalogue record)
- DOI record: American Psychologist (1977)(primary or catalogue record)
- (link to this entry)
The Milan Associates publish Paradox and Counterparadox
Mara Selvini Palazzoli, Luigi Boscolo, Gianfranco Cecchin and Giuliana Prata published an English edition of Paradox and Counterparadox in 1978, following the Italian edition in 1975. The book presents the Milan team’s historical approach to family communication and therapy.
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Why it matters
The book and the team’s later writing contributed to the development of systemic family therapy and discussion of how therapists work with families.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The team described clinical methods including consultation, attention to interaction patterns and paradoxical interventions. These are historical descriptions and do not by themselves establish the effectiveness or suitability of a technique.
Important context and scope
The book uses the historical phrase “schizophrenic transaction” in its title. Its account of family communication is a clinical theory, not an established cause of schizophrenia. NIMH describes multiple genetic and environmental factors associated with risk. Italian edition Paradosso e controparadosso published in 1975; English edition Paradox and Counterparadox published by Jason Aronson in 1978
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- PubMed record: Hypothesizing, circularity, neutrality: three guidelines for the conductor of the session (Selvini Palazzoli et al., 1980)(primary or catalogue record)
- WorldCat bibliographic record: Paradox and Counterparadox (1978)(primary or catalogue record)
- National Institute of Mental Health: Schizophrenia(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Beck, Rush, Shaw, and Emery publish Cognitive Therapy of Depression
Aaron T. Beck, A. John Rush, Brian F. Shaw, and Gary Emery published Cognitive Therapy of Depression, a comprehensive clinical treatment manual detailing session-by-session cognitive and behavioural procedures for unipolar depression.
Guilford Press record: Cognitive Therapy of Depression (Beck et al., 1979)
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Why it matters
As one of the earliest and most influential structured psychotherapy treatment manuals, the volume enabled cognitive therapy to be standardised and tested directly against pharmacotherapy in multi-site randomised clinical trials.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The manual codified 'collaborative empiricism', Socratic questioning ('guided discovery'), activity scheduling, graded task assignments, Daily Record of Dysfunctional Thoughts worksheets, and behavioural experiments to test underlying assumptions.
Important context and scope
A treatment manual milestone rather than the origin of cognitive therapy; its structured format followed the 1977 Rush et al. clinical trial comparing cognitive therapy with imipramine and became the template for manualised CBT protocols across anxiety and mood disorders. Published by Guilford Press in New York in 1979
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press record: Cognitive Therapy of Depression (Beck et al., 1979)(primary or catalogue record)
- Rush et al. (1977), Comparative efficacy of cognitive therapy and pharmacotherapy in the treatment of depressed outpatients (Springer)(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Edward S. Bordin formulates the pan-theoretical working alliance
In 'The Generalizability of the Psychoanalytic Concept of the Working Alliance', Edward S. Bordin proposed that the working alliance is not an exclusively psychoanalytic construct but a collaborative relational framework present across all forms of psychotherapy.
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Why it matters
Bordin’s account informed later measures of the working alliance. A 2018 meta-analysis of 295 studies found an association between alliance and treatment outcomes, but an association alone does not establish why change occurs.
In psychotherapy and counselling
He defined the working alliance through three interdependent components: mutual agreement on the therapeutic goals, collaboration on the clinical tasks required to reach those goals, and an affective bond of trust and attachment between client and therapist.
Important context and scope
Bordin drew on earlier psychoanalytic accounts of the working alliance and proposed a framework applicable across therapies. Research continues to examine how alliance and symptom change relate over time. Published in Psychotherapy: Theory, Research and Practice, Vol. 16(3), Fall 1979 (originally presented as Bordin's SPR presidential address in 1975)
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- DOI record: The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance (Bordin, 1979)(primary or catalogue record)
- APA PsycNet record: Bordin (1979)(primary or catalogue record)
- Flückiger and colleagues: The alliance in adult psychotherapy, a meta-analytic synthesis (2018)(scholarly or historical account)
Related
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Jon Kabat-Zinn establishes the Stress Reduction Clinic at the University of Massachusetts
Molecular biologist and meditation practitioner Jon Kabat-Zinn founded the Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program (later the Center for Mindfulness) at the University of Massachusetts Medical Center, introducing an eight-week secular group curriculum that became Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR).
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Why it matters
By adapting Buddhist mindfulness meditation practices (vipassana and Zen) and mindful movement into a secular hospital outpatient curriculum for patients with chronic pain and stress-related conditions, Kabat-Zinn initiated the modern clinical mindfulness movement.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Participants practised formal body-scan meditation, sitting meditation, and gentle hatha yoga alongside informal cultivation of purposeful, non-judgemental present-moment awareness of bodily sensations, thoughts, and emotions.
Important context and scope
Initially developed as behavioural medicine for medical patients rather than a standalone psychotherapy, MBSR later directly informed Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT, developed by Segal, Williams, and Teasdale in the 1990s) and broader contextual CBT approaches. Stress Reduction and Relaxation Program founded in autumn 1979; initial clinical study on chronic pain published in 1982
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Sources
- PubMed record: An outpatient program in behavioral medicine for chronic pain patients based on the practice of mindfulness meditation (Kabat-Zinn, 1982)(primary or catalogue record)
- UMass Memorial Health Center for Mindfulness: History of MBSR(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
The NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program is launched
Coordinated by Irene Elkin and colleagues at the United States National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program (TDCRP) compared two manualised psychotherapies, Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT), against imipramine plus clinical management and pill-placebo plus clinical management across 250 depressed outpatients at three university sites.
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Why it matters
As an early NIMH-coordinated multisite study, the programme contributed to comparative research on psychotherapy and medication.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The trial demonstrated that both CBT and IPT could be delivered reliably across sites using structured manuals and competency rating scales, with overall recovery rates generally comparable across active treatments and further analyses examining baseline depression severity.
Important context and scope
Initiated in 1980 with primary outcome findings published by Elkin et al. in the Archives of General Psychiatry in 1989, the trial sparked enduring methodological debates over site differences, pill-placebo clinical management, and the role of initial symptom severity. Programme planning and pilot training began around 1980; main clinical trial conducted 1982-1986; primary outcome report published by Elkin et al. in 1989
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- PubMed record: NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program: General effectiveness of treatments (Elkin et al., 1989)(primary or catalogue record)
- PubMed: NIMH Treatment of Depression Collaborative Research Program, background and research plan (Elkin et al., 1985)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Prochaska and DiClemente publish the transtheoretical stages-of-change model
James O. Prochaska and Carlo C. DiClemente described an integrative model of change in 1982 and reported a study of stages and processes in self-change of smoking in 1983.
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Why it matters
The model proposes that change involves different stages and processes. It has informed discussions of how support might be adapted to a person’s readiness to change; this proposal should be distinguished from evidence that stage matching improves outcomes.
In psychotherapy and counselling
A later Cochrane review describes five stages in relation to smoking cessation: precontemplation, contemplation, preparation, action and maintenance. Stage-based interventions aim to fit support to the person’s stage.
Important context and scope
The Cochrane review of smoking cessation found the extra value of stage matching unclear and did not support restricting quitting advice to people thought to be ready for action. Its latest search was in August 2010; the finding should not be generalised to all psychotherapy. Initial Transtheoretical paper published in 1982; empirical stages-of-change study published in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in June 1983
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- PubMed record: Stages and processes of self-change of smoking: toward an integrative model of change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1983)(primary or catalogue record)
- DOI record: Transtheoretical therapy: Toward a more integrative model of change (Prochaska and DiClemente, 1982)(primary or catalogue record)
- Cochrane: Stage-based interventions for smoking cessation (latest search August 2010)(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Klerman, Weissman, Rounsaville, and Chevron publish Interpersonal Psychotherapy of Depression
Gerald L. Klerman, Myrna M. Weissman, Bruce J. Rounsaville, and Eve S. Chevron published Interpersonal Psychotherapy of Depression, codifying the time-limited manualised treatment originally developed for the New Haven-Boston Collaborative Depression Project in the late 1960s and 1970s.
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Why it matters
Drawing on the interpersonal psychiatry of Harry Stack Sullivan and Adolf Meyer as well as attachment research, Interpersonal Psychotherapy (IPT) became one of the most rigorously validated time-limited psychotherapies worldwide, recommended across international depression guidelines.
In psychotherapy and counselling
IPT links depressive symptoms to current interpersonal disruption across four focal problem areas: complicated bereavement (grief), interpersonal role disputes, role transitions, and interpersonal deficits, while granting the client the temporary 'sick role' during recovery.
Important context and scope
IPT originated in 1969 as a 'high-contact' psychotherapeutic condition in a randomised maintenance trial of amitriptyline before its creators recognised its standalone efficacy and formalised the 1984 clinical manual. Published by Basic Books in New York in 1984
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Markowitz and Weissman (2004), Interpersonal psychotherapy: principles and applications (PubMed Central)(scholarly or historical account)
- APA PsycNet record: Interpersonal Psychotherapy of Depression (Klerman et al., 1984)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Steve de Shazer publishes Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy
Working with Insoo Kim Berg and colleagues at the Brief Family Therapy Center (BFTC, founded in Milwaukee in 1978), Steve de Shazer published Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy, shifting brief systemic therapy from analysing problem maintenance to constructing solutions.
W. W. Norton record: Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy (de Shazer, 1985)
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Why it matters
Together with his 1988 book Clues: Investigating Solutions in Brief Therapy and Insoo Kim Berg's clinical teaching, this work established Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), now practised widely in counselling, social work, schools, and community mental health.
In psychotherapy and counselling
SFBT oriented conversations around what clients want to be different in the future rather than the history of the problem, introducing hallmark interventions such as the 'miracle question', exception-seeking questions, scaling questions, and strengths-based compliments.
Important context and scope
De Shazer and Berg built directly upon the Mental Research Institute (MRI) Brief Therapy Center in Palo Alto (where both had trained with John Weakland and colleagues) and the pragmatic hypnotic work of Milton H. Erickson. Published by W. W. Norton in New York in 1985
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- W. W. Norton record: Keys to Solution in Brief Therapy (de Shazer, 1985)(primary or catalogue record)
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy Association: History of SFBT(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Edna B. Foa and Michael J. Kozak publish 'Emotional Processing of Fear'
In Psychological Bulletin, Edna B. Foa and Michael J. Kozak published 'Emotional Processing of Fear: Exposure to Corrective Information', proposing that pathological anxiety reflects a fear network in memory whose stimulus, response, and meaning elements resist modification.
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Why it matters
Emotional Processing Theory provided the theoretical engine for Prolonged Exposure (PE) therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and modern exposure and response prevention (EX/RP) for obsessive-compulsive disorder.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The model argued that effective exposure therapy requires two conditions: activating the fear structure through imaginal and in vivo exposure, and simultaneously incorporating corrective information that is incompatible with pathological elements of the fear network.
Important context and scope
Craske and colleagues later proposed an inhibitory-learning account of exposure, including attention to the difference between feared outcomes and experience. Their approach challenges reliance on fear reduction within a session as a measure of long-term learning; research continues on mechanisms and clinical applications. Published in Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 99(1), January 1986
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- PubMed record: Emotional processing of fear: exposure to corrective information (Foa and Kozak, 1986)(primary or catalogue record)
- DOI record: Psychological Bulletin (1986)(primary or catalogue record)
- Craske and colleagues: Maximizing exposure therapy: An inhibitory learning approach (2014)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
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Howard, Kopta, Krause, and Orlinsky publish 'The Dose-Effect Relationship in Psychotherapy'
Kenneth I. Howard, S. Mark Kopta, Merton S. Krause and David E. Orlinsky combined data from fifteen samples of individual outpatient psychotherapy, comprising 2,431 patients, to model the association between the number of sessions and measurable improvement.
Howard et al. (1986): The dose-effect relationship in psychotherapy (full article)
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Why it matters
The authors used a statistical model to compare reports across studies with different treatment lengths and measures. Their estimated curve showed a larger increase in the proportion improved at earlier session counts, but the observations do not prove that session number alone caused improvement.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The model estimated that about half of patients showed measurable improvement by eight sessions and around three quarters by twenty-six sessions. These were estimates based on the included samples and their outcome measures, not a predicted course or recommended session limit for an individual.
Important context and scope
The authors noted that session count and elapsed time could not be separated in the included studies, so improvement associated with treatment was mixed with other changes over time. The samples and measures varied, and the estimates do not determine how long an individual needs treatment. Published in American Psychologist, Vol. 41(2), February 1986
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- Howard et al. (1986): The dose-effect relationship in psychotherapy (full article)(primary or catalogue record)
- PubMed record: The dose-effect relationship in psychotherapy (Howard et al., 1986)(primary or catalogue record)
- DOI record: American Psychologist (1986)(primary or catalogue record)
- (link to this entry)
Leslie S. Greenberg and Jeremy D. Safran publish Emotion in Psychotherapy
Leslie S. Greenberg and Jeremy D. Safran wrote Emotion in Psychotherapy: Affect, Cognition, and the Process of Change. The book reviews clinical and experimental psychology and proposes a role for emotion in therapeutic change.
Guilford Press: Emotion in Psychotherapy, publisher description
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Why it matters
The authors brought emotional experience into an integrative account of psychotherapy. Their later 1989 article discussed emotional change processes across therapeutic perspectives.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The publisher describes case examples and transcripts concerning emotional expression, access to feelings and restructuring emotion. These illustrate the authors’ approach rather than establish an outcome for an individual client.
Important context and scope
The publisher’s description and the abstract of a 1989 article were consulted; the complete 1987 book and 1989 article were not reviewed. The sources do not establish that a specific four-part classification originated in this book. Copyright 1987; publisher lists the paperback edition in 1990
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press: Emotion in Psychotherapy, publisher description(primary or catalogue record)
- Greenberg and Safran (1989): Emotion in psychotherapy, abstract(scholarly or historical account)
- APA PsycNet record: Emotion in Psychotherapy (Greenberg and Safran, 1987)(primary or catalogue record)
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Francine Shapiro publishes the initial controlled study of Eye Movement Desensitization
American psychologist Francine Shapiro published 'Efficacy of the Eye Movement Desensitization Procedure in the Treatment of Traumatic Memories' in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, reporting a controlled study of twenty-two participants with traumatic memories.
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Why it matters
The approach was later renamed Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR). In its 2018 PTSD guideline, NICE recommended EMDR for some adults after non-combat-related trauma; its recommendations distinguish presentation at one to three months from presentation after three months.
In psychotherapy and counselling
In the adult PTSD intervention described by NICE, a trained practitioner works with target memories in phases and uses bilateral stimulation, normally eye movements; taps or tones may also be used when preferred or more appropriate.
Important context and scope
A 2013 Cochrane review found EMDR reduced clinician-rated symptoms compared with waiting list or usual care in adults with chronic PTSD. It rated the evidence for each comparison very low quality and found limited long-term follow-up. The mechanisms of EMDR and the role of eye movements remain subjects of research. Published in the Journal of Traumatic Stress, Vol. 2(2), April 1989
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- DOI record: Efficacy of the eye movement desensitization procedure in the treatment of traumatic memories (Shapiro, 1989)(primary or catalogue record)
- APA PsycNet record: Journal of Traumatic Stress (Shapiro, 1989)(primary or catalogue record)
- Francine Shapiro: Background, chapter excerpt from EMDR Therapy, third edition (2018)(primary or catalogue record)
- NICE guideline NG116: Post-traumatic stress disorder, recommendations 1.6.18 to 1.6.20 (2018)()
- Cochrane: Psychological therapies for chronic PTSD in adults (2013)()
- Landin-Romero and colleagues: systematic review of proposed EMDR mechanisms (2018)()
Related
Third-wave, narrative, trauma & evidence movements · 1990 to 2009
Narrative and solution-focused therapies, motivational interviewing, trauma staging, DBT, ACT, MBCT, schema and mentalization models, multicultural competencies, and evidence-based practice.
Pluralism, digital care & global mental health · 2010 to present
Pluralistic and transdiagnostic frameworks, alliance rupture-repair research, internet-delivered and remote therapy, community task-sharing trials, and shared decision-making.
About this timeline and its sources
This chronology brings together 125 selected milestones across the history of psychotherapy and psychological counselling. It traces moral treatment and early hypnosis, psychoanalysis and psychodynamic schools, humanistic and existential practice, behavioural and cognitive therapies, systemic and relational work, third-wave contextual models, common-factors and outcome research, and global community-based interventions.
Dates record different kinds of historical evidence. A book or treatment manual date marks when a text appeared in print, not a single moment when a therapeutic tradition began. A clinical study date marks either when research took place or when its report was published. Institutional dates record the founding of clinics, societies, training standards, or public programmes.
Historical influence is distinct from clinical evidence. Many foundational works relied on clinical case descriptions, philosophical synthesis, or retrospective institutional accounts rather than controlled outcome trials. Where later research, replication work, or cultural critique has qualified an early claim, the entry context notes those boundaries explicitly.
This site is an educational draft within the Therapy101 reference family. It provides historical and conceptual orientation only, with no medical advice, diagnostic tools, or personalised treatment recommendations. Text size and sidebar preferences are stored locally in your browser.