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.
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.
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White and Epston publish Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends
Australian social worker Michael White and New Zealand therapist David Epston published Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends through W. W. Norton in 1990. The book presented narrative therapy methods including externalising conversations, therapeutic letter-writing, and the identification of unique outcomes.
W. W. Norton: Maps of Narrative Practice
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Why it matters
The book brought Australasian narrative practice to an international clinical audience and established a major collaborative, post-structuralist orientation within family therapy and counselling. It challenged deficit-based diagnostic models by locating problems in cultural and relational contexts rather than inside individuals.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Practitioners use externalising language so that clients can examine their relationship to a problem rather than equating their identity with it. Therapy focuses on re-authoring personal narratives by tracing neglected exceptions and recruiting supportive audiences.
Important context and scope
The 1990 W. W. Norton volume expanded earlier writings published through Dulwich Centre Publications in Adelaide during the late 1980s. It marks an international publishing milestone rather than a single founding moment for narrative approaches. First US trade edition published by W. W. Norton in 1990 following earlier Australasian work in the 1980s.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- W. W. Norton: Maps of Narrative Practice(primary or catalogue record)
- Dulwich Centre: What is Narrative Therapy?(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Miller and Rollnick publish Motivational Interviewing
Psychologists William R. Miller and Stephen Rollnick published Motivational Interviewing: Preparing People to Change Addictive Behavior in 1991. The volume articulated a collaborative, person-centred counselling style designed to explore and resolve ambivalence about behaviour change.
MINT: Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers resources
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Why it matters
Motivational interviewing shifted addiction treatment away from confrontational models that attributed reluctance to personal denial or pathology. It subsequently spread across health psychology, primary care, social work, and general counselling.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Clinicians combine Carl Rogers's empathic listening conditions with strategic attention to client 'change talk' and discrepancy between current behaviour and core values. Rather than arguing for change, the practitioner supports client autonomy and self-efficacy.
Important context and scope
Miller first described the approach in a 1983 paper in Behavioural Psychotherapy before collaborating with Rollnick on the 1991 text. Later editions broadened the framework beyond substance use to general health and behavioural consultations. First edition of Motivational Interviewing published by Guilford Press in 1991.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- MINT: Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers resources(institutional record)
- Miller (1983) foundational article record (Cambridge Core)(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Judith Lewis Herman publishes Trauma and Recovery
Psychiatrist Judith Lewis Herman published Trauma and Recovery: The Aftermath of Violence, from Domestic Abuse to Political Terror in 1992. She connected the clinical consequences of domestic and sexual abuse with those of combat trauma and political captivity, proposing the diagnostic concept of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (Complex PTSD).
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Why it matters
The book unified feminist domestic violence scholarship and veterans' trauma research, fundamentally reshaping how clinicians conceptualise chronic interpersonal trauma. It laid the conceptual foundation for phase-oriented trauma treatment and the eventual inclusion of Complex PTSD in the WHO ICD-11.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Herman structured recovery into three sequential stages: establishing safety and stabilisation, remembrance and mourning of the trauma, and reconnection with ordinary life and relationships. Clinicians are cautioned against premature trauma processing before safety and self-regulation are secure.
Important context and scope
Although widely adopted in clinical practice from the 1990s onward, Complex PTSD was not added as an official diagnosis in the APA DSM series and was formally codified by the World Health Organization only in ICD-11 (2018). First edition published by Basic Books in 1992.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Herman (1992), Complex PTSD: A Syndrome in Survivors of Prolonged and Repeated Trauma (Journal of Traumatic Stress)(primary or catalogue record)
- National Center for PTSD: Complex PTSD overview(institutional record)
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Sue, Arredondo, and McDavis publish Multicultural Counseling Competencies
Derald Wing Sue, Patricia Arredondo, and Roderick J. McDavis published 'Multicultural Counseling Competencies and Standards: A Call to the Profession' in 1992. The framework organised cultural responsiveness around counsellor awareness of personal assumptions, understanding of the culturally diverse client's worldview, and culturally appropriate intervention strategies.
Sue, Arredondo & McDavis (1992), Journal of Counseling & Development
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Why it matters
The paper transformed multicultural counselling from a specialist concern into a core competency movement across training accreditation, ethical codes, and professional standards. It challenged the assumption that traditional Euro-American counselling theories were universally neutral.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Practitioners examine how their own cultural conditioning, power, and institutional context affect case formulation and the therapeutic alliance. Interventions are adapted to honour clients' cultural values, community networks, and lived experiences of racism or marginalisation.
Important context and scope
The 1992 standards built on an earlier 1982 APA Division 17 position paper and were later updated by the Multicultural and Social Justice Counseling Competencies (2015), which placed greater weight on intersectionality and structural advocacy. Published concurrently in the Journal of Counseling & Development and The Counseling Psychologist in 1992.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Sue, Arredondo & McDavis (1992), Journal of Counseling & Development(primary or catalogue record)
- American Counseling Association: Multicultural and Social Justice Competencies(institutional record)
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Marsha Linehan publishes the foundational manual for Dialectical Behaviour Therapy
Psychologist Marsha M. Linehan published Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment of Borderline Personality Disorder and its companion skills manual with Guilford Press in May 1993. The books codified Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), integrating behaviour therapy with Zen-informed mindfulness and dialectical philosophy.
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Why it matters
Linehan demonstrated that chronically suicidal clients diagnosed with borderline personality disorder, long regarded by many services as untreatable, could benefit from a structured, compassionate, and empirically tested psychotherapy. DBT became a foundational pillar of contextual and 'third-wave' cognitive-behavioural therapies.
In psychotherapy and counselling
DBT balances validation of the client's current emotional pain with structured behavioural change across four skills modules: mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness. Comprehensive delivery combines individual therapy, group skills training, between-session coaching, and a therapist consultation team.
Important context and scope
The publisher lists 14 May 1993 for this hardcover edition; Linehan's initial randomised controlled trial of DBT for parasuicidal women had appeared in Archives of General Psychiatry in 1991. The book represents formal manualisation rather than the single date of DBT's creation. Hardcover edition published on 14 May 1993 by Guilford Press alongside the companion skills training manual.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press edition record(primary or catalogue record)
- Linehan et al. (1991) clinical trial in Archives of General Psychiatry(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) established as a national umbrella body
The United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy (UKCP) was formally inaugurated in 1993 and launched the first National Register of Psychotherapists in the UK. It brought psychoanalysis, humanistic and integrative, systemic, cognitive-behavioural, and experiential training organisations under a shared governance structure.
UK Council for Psychotherapy: About Us and History
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Why it matters
Following the 1971 Foster Report and the 1978 Sieghart Report calls for psychotherapy regulation, UKCP created a pluralistic institutional structure that recognised distinct modalities while establishing national ethical and training standards.
In psychotherapy and counselling
By organising registration through modality-specific colleges and sections, UKCP shaped British psychotherapy training around rigorous personal therapy, supervised clinical hours, and adherence to an overarching ethical code.
Important context and scope
UKCP evolved out of the Rugby Psychotherapy Conferences of the 1980s and the UK Standing Conference for Psychotherapy (1989). Later debates over statutory regulation in the 2000s led some psychoanalysis bodies to form the British Psychoanalytic Council (BPC) separately. Inaugurated as the United Kingdom Council for Psychotherapy in 1993, succeeding the UK Standing Conference for Psychotherapy (established 1989).
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Sources
- UK Council for Psychotherapy: About Us and History(institutional record)
- Professional Standards Authority: UKCP Accredited Register profile(institutional record)
- (link to this entry)
Insoo Kim Berg publishes Family Based Services: A Solution-Based Approach
Korean-American psychotherapist Insoo Kim Berg published Family Based Services: A Solution-Based Approach with W. W. Norton in 1994. The book translated Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT), developed with Steve de Shazer at the Brief Family Therapy Center in Milwaukee, into child welfare and home-based family support.
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Why it matters
Berg showed that brief, resource-oriented therapy could be practised effectively inside public social services and mandated child protection contexts, rather than only in private consulting rooms.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Practitioners use the miracle question, scaling questions, coping questions, and a search for exceptions to help families identify existing strengths and small workable steps toward preferred futures.
Important context and scope
This entry records the 1994 W. W. Norton edition; Berg and de Shazer had been developing solution-focused methods in Milwaukee since the late 1970s and early 1980s. Hardcover edition published by W. W. Norton in 1994.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- W. W. Norton edition record(primary or catalogue record)
- Solution Focused Brief Therapy Association: History of SFBT(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Ignacio Martín-Baró's Writings for a Liberation Psychology published in English
Harvard University Press published Writings for a Liberation Psychology in 1994, collecting essays by Salvadoran social psychologist and Jesuit priest Ignacio Martín-Baró, who was assassinated in 1989 during the Salvadoran civil war. The volume introduced his concepts of liberation psychology, psychosocial trauma, and the recovery of historical memory to English-speaking clinicians.
Writings for a Liberation Psychology (1994), bibliographic record
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Why it matters
Martín-Baró critiqued individualism and decontextualised diagnostic models in psychology, arguing that war, state violence, and poverty produce collective 'psychosocial trauma' rooted in social relations rather than private intrapsychic defects.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Liberation-informed counselling situates distress within structural oppression, links individual healing with community solidarity and conscientisation (concientización), and values collective testimony and historical memory.
Important context and scope
Martín-Baró developed and published these essays in Spanish throughout the 1980s at the Universidad Centroamericana (UCA) in San Salvador; the 1994 volume marks their major English-language dissemination. Posthumous English collection edited by Adrianne Aron and Shawn Corne and published by Harvard University Press in 1994.
Date type
Publication year
Source
- Writings for a Liberation Psychology (1994), bibliographic record(primary or catalogue record)
- (link to this entry)
APA Division 12 Task Force publishes criteria for Empirically Validated Treatments
Chaired by Diane L. Chambless, the American Psychological Association Division 12 (Clinical Psychology) Task Force on Promotion and Dissemination of Psychological Procedures published its 1995 report establishing criteria for 'well-established' and 'probably efficacious' Empirically Validated Treatments (later termed Empirically Supported Treatments, ESTs).
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Why it matters
The report catalysed the evidence-based practice movement in psychology by aligning manualised psychotherapies with medical clinical trial standards, while simultaneously igniting fierce debate over whether disorder-specific manuals neglected the therapeutic relationship and client complexity.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Training programmes and healthcare commissioners increasingly prioritised manualised, disorder-specific protocols tested in randomised controlled trials, particularly cognitive-behavioural and interpersonal therapies.
Important context and scope
In 1998 Chambless and Hollon refined the terminology from 'empirically validated' to 'empirically supported treatments' (ESTs) to clarify that scientific support is ongoing and provisional rather than final validation. Report of the APA Division 12 Task Force published in The Clinical Psychologist in 1995, following its 1993 task force work.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Chambless & Hollon (1998), Defining Empirically Supported Therapies (Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology)(scholarly or historical account)
- APA Division 12 (Society of Clinical Psychology): Psychological Treatments(institutional record)
- (link to this entry)
Richard C. Schwartz publishes Internal Family Systems Therapy
Richard C. Schwartz's Internal Family Systems Therapy applies family-systems ideas to the way different aspects of a person's experience may interact. The model describes a core 'Self' and protective or vulnerable 'parts' as ways of understanding internal experience.
Guilford Press: Internal Family Systems Therapy, second edition and first-edition information
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Why it matters
The book presents a way to think about internal conflict using the language of parts and relationships.
In psychotherapy and counselling
In the IFS model, practitioners may explore a client's relationship with protective and vulnerable parts. These terms describe the model; they do not establish separate entities or a necessary process of recovery.
Important context and scope
The model has been studied in different settings. A 2026 pilot randomised trial of an IFS-based group programme for PTSD found both study groups improved, without a significant difference between them. Its findings do not establish effectiveness for every IFS format or population. Some catalogues list 1995; the publisher lists the first edition copyright as 1994.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press: Internal Family Systems Therapy, second edition and first-edition information(primary or catalogue record)
- WorldCat: Internal family systems therapy (1995 catalogue record)(institutional record)
- PubMed: Randomised trial of an IFS-based group programme for PTSD (2026)(primary or catalogue record)
- (link to this entry)
Francine Shapiro publishes the foundational textbook on EMDR
Psychologist Francine Shapiro published Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing: Basic Principles, Protocols, and Procedures in 1995. The textbook standardised an eight-phase trauma psychotherapy protocol combining brief focus on traumatic memories with bilateral stimulation such as saccadic eye movements.
Guilford Press: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
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Why it matters
EMDR became one of the most widely researched and internationally recommended psychological treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder, later endorsed by the World Health Organization and NICE.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Guided by the Adaptive Information Processing (AIP) model, clinicians assist clients in accessing distressing images, negative self-beliefs, and bodily sensations while engaging in dual-attention bilateral stimulation until distress reduces and adaptive beliefs consolidate.
Important context and scope
Shapiro first published a preliminary study of Eye Movement Desensitization (EMD) in the Journal of Traumatic Stress in 1989. While meta-analyses support EMDR's clinical efficacy for PTSD, researchers have continued to debate the specific mechanism of eye movements relative to exposure and working-memory taxation. First edition of the comprehensive textbook published by Guilford Press in 1995.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing(primary or catalogue record)
- Shapiro (1989) initial study in Journal of Traumatic Stress(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Susan M. Johnson publishes The Practice of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy
Canadian clinical psychologist Susan M. Johnson published The Practice of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy: Creating Connection in 1996. Building on her 1980s collaboration with Leslie S. Greenberg, the book integrated John Bowlby's adult attachment theory with experiential and systemic therapy.
Routledge edition record: The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy
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Why it matters
Johnson’s account places attachment needs and patterns of interaction at the centre of understanding couple distress. Later reviews have examined outcomes of emotionally focused couple therapy; a review does not establish what will happen for a particular couple.
In psychotherapy and counselling
In three stages and nine steps, therapists help partners de-escalate negative interaction cycles (such as pursue-withdraw patterns), access underlying attachment fears and needs, and enact new bonding interactions.
Important context and scope
Johnson and Greenberg published an outcome study of emotionally focused couples therapy in 1985, followed by their book in 1988. Johnson’s later work placed adult attachment theory at the centre of her account of couple therapy. First edition of Creating Connection published by Brunner/Mazel in 1996, expanding Greenberg and Johnson's 1988 text.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Routledge edition record: The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy(primary or catalogue record)
- Beasley and Ager (2019): Emotionally focused couples therapy, systematic review abstract(scholarly or historical account)
- Johnson and Greenberg (1985): Emotionally focused couples therapy, outcome study(scholarly or historical account)
- ICEEFT: What is Emotionally Focused Therapy?(institutional record)
Related
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Lambert and colleagues publish an outcome questionnaire validation study
In 1996, Michael J. Lambert and colleagues reported on the development, reliability and validity of the Outcome Questionnaire. It was designed to assess subjective distress, interpersonal relationships and social role performance.
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Why it matters
The questionnaire became one tool used in routine outcome monitoring. Subsequent research has examined feedback systems designed to help clinicians identify patients whose progress differs from expectations.
In psychotherapy and counselling
In some services, patients complete self-report measures repeatedly and clinicians discuss the results with them. Systems, timing and responses to feedback differ between settings.
Important context and scope
The 1996 study assessed the measure’s psychometric properties; it did not itself establish that using feedback improves outcomes. The OQ-45 and the separately developed Partners for Change system use different measures and are not interchangeable. Outcome Questionnaire (OQ-45) psychometric validation published in 1996.
Date type
Clinical study or review
Sources
- Lambert et al. (1996), The Reliability and Validity of the Outcome Questionnaire (Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy)(primary or catalogue record)
- Lambert (2007), Presidential address: What we have learned from a decade of research aimed at improving psychotherapy outcome in routine care(scholarly or historical account)
- Redmayne and colleagues: Comparing OQ-45 and Outcome Rating Scale trajectories (2023)(scholarly or historical account)
Related
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Hayes, Strosahl, and Wilson publish Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
Psychologists Steven C. Hayes, Kirk D. Strosahl, and Kelly G. Wilson published Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: An Experiential Approach to Behavior Change in 1999. Rooted in functional contextualism and Relational Frame Theory (RFT), the book articulated a behavioural therapy focused on psychological flexibility rather than direct symptom elimination.
Association for Contextual Behavioral Science publication record
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Why it matters
ACT challenged the cognitive therapy premise that distressing thoughts must be disputed or modified before behavioural change can occur. Alongside DBT and MBCT, it defined the 'third wave' of behavioural and cognitive therapies.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Clinicians use experiential exercises and metaphors across six core processes: experiential acceptance, cognitive defusion, present-moment awareness, self-as-context, values clarification, and committed action.
Important context and scope
Hayes had developed 'comprehensive distancing' since the early 1980s; the 1999 book represents the comprehensive clinical manualisation of ACT rather than a single date of origin or claim of superiority. First edition published by Guilford Press in 1999.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Association for Contextual Behavioral Science publication record(primary or catalogue record)
- Guilford Press: Acceptance and Commitment Therapy(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Martell, Addis and Jacobson publish Depression in Context
Christopher R. Martell, Michael E. Addis and Neil S. Jacobson published Depression in Context: Strategies for Guided Action in 2001. The book presents a behavioural activation approach to depression following earlier work by Jacobson and colleagues.
Jacobson et al. (1996) component analysis in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology
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Why it matters
In a 1996 component analysis, 150 outpatients were randomly assigned to behavioural activation, activation plus work on automatic thoughts, or full cognitive therapy. The primary outcome analysis did not detect statistically significant differences between the treatment conditions; this finding alone does not establish that the treatments are equivalent for everyone.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Rather than directly challenging negative automatic thoughts, therapists help clients examine the environmental context of depressed mood, identify avoidance cycles, and schedule value-consistent activities that restore contact with natural sources of reinforcement.
Important context and scope
Behavioural approaches to depression have earlier roots. The 2006 trial compared behavioural activation, cognitive therapy and antidepressant medication. The UK COBRA trial used a non-inferiority design and found that behavioural activation was not inferior to cognitive behavioural therapy on its prespecified depression measure at 12 months. This result is bounded by the trial's population and margin; it does not establish identical outcomes for every person. Published by W. W. Norton in 2001 following Neil Jacobson's 1996 component analysis study.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Jacobson et al. (1996) component analysis in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology(primary or catalogue record)
- Dimidjian et al. (2006): randomised trial of behavioural activation, cognitive therapy and medication(scholarly or historical account)
- Richards et al. (2016): COBRA non-inferiority trial(scholarly or historical account)
- W. W. Norton: Depression in Context (2001)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
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Bruce E. Wampold publishes The Great Psychotherapy Debate
In The Great Psychotherapy Debate: Models, Methods, and Findings (2001), Bruce E. Wampold compared a medical model, which emphasises specific treatment ingredients, with a contextual model of psychotherapy.
WorldCat: The Great Psychotherapy Debate, first edition (2001)
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Why it matters
Wampold argued that relational and contextual factors deserve greater weight in understanding psychotherapy outcomes. This is an interpretation of research, not proof that all therapies are equivalent or that any one factor causes improvement.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The contextual model emphasises a therapeutic relationship, an explanation for distress and therapeutic actions meaningful to the people involved. It is a framework for understanding practice, not a recommendation for one treatment.
Important context and scope
The relative contributions of specific techniques and factors shared across therapies remain debated. A 2019 review notes the difficulty of establishing causal mechanisms from correlational research. Wampold and Zac E. Imel published a revised second edition in 2015. First edition published by Lawrence Erlbaum Associates in 2001.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- WorldCat: The Great Psychotherapy Debate, first edition (2001)(scholarly or historical account)
- Routledge: The Great Psychotherapy Debate, second edition (Wampold and Imel, 2015)(primary or catalogue record)
- Wampold (2015): How important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update(scholarly or historical account)
- Cuijpers, Reijnders and Huibers (2019): The role of common factors in psychotherapy outcomes(scholarly or historical account)
Related
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Segal, Williams, and Teasdale publish Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression
Psychologists Zindel V. Segal, J. Mark G. Williams, and John D. Teasdale published Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression: A New Approach to Preventing Relapse in 2002. They combined Jon Kabat-Zinn's Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) practices with principles of cognitive therapy to address vulnerability to depressive relapse.
Guilford Press: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression
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Why it matters
MBCT demonstrated through multicentre randomised trials that group mindfulness training significantly reduced relapse rates in people with three or more previous episodes of depression, leading to its inclusion in UK NICE depression guidelines in 2004.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Delivered as an eight-week group programme, MBCT teaches participants to notice early shifts in mood and body sensations and to relate to negative thoughts with 'decentred' awareness as passing mental events rather than facts requiring rumination.
Important context and scope
The authors' foundational multi-site trial appeared in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology in 2000. Early trial evidence was strongest for preventing relapse in recurrent depression with three or more prior episodes. First edition of Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression published by Guilford Press in 2002.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press: Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression(primary or catalogue record)
- Teasdale et al. (2000) prevention of relapse trial in Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology(scholarly or historical account)
Related
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Jeffrey E. Young and colleagues publish Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide
Psychologist Jeffrey E. Young, together with Janet S. Klosko and Marjorie E. Weishaar, published Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide in 2003. The book integrated cognitive-behavioural therapy with attachment theory, psychodynamic object relations, and Gestalt experiential techniques to treat chronic personality and relational difficulties.
Guilford Press: Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide
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Why it matters
Young addressed the limitations of short-term standard CBT for clients with entrenched lifelong patterns and personality disorders, creating an integrative model that later showed strong clinical efficacy in trials for borderline and Cluster C personality disorders.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Therapists identify Early Maladaptive Schemas (such as abandonment, defectiveness, or emotional deprivation) and Moment-to-Moment Schema Modes (such as the Vulnerable Child or Punitive Parent), using 'limited reparenting', chair work, and imagery rescripting.
Important context and scope
Young first introduced the concept of early maladaptive schemas in a 1990 monograph; the 2003 volume added the Schema Mode work developed for complex personality presentations. Comprehensive clinical practitioner guide published by Guilford Press in 2003.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Guilford Press: Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide(primary or catalogue record)
- Giesen-Bloo et al. (2006) randomized trial of Schema Therapy in Archives of General Psychiatry(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Anthony Bateman and Peter Fonagy publish Mentalization-Based Treatment for Borderline Personality Disorder
Psychiatrist Anthony Bateman and psychoanalyst-psychologist Peter Fonagy published Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-Based Treatment with Oxford University Press in 2004. Grounded in developmental attachment research, the book operationalised 'mentalizing', the capacity to understand one's own and others' behaviour in terms of underlying mental states.
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Why it matters
Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) revitalised contemporary psychodynamic therapy within public mental health services by providing a manualised, empirically validated relational treatment for borderline personality disorder.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Avoiding complex unconscious interpretations that might overwhelm emotionally aroused clients, MBT therapists adopt a 'not-knowing', inquisitive stance focused on the current interpersonal moment to help clients recover mentalizing when attachment stress triggers psychic equivalence or pretend mode.
Important context and scope
Bateman and Fonagy first demonstrated the clinical effectiveness of their psychoanalytically oriented partial hospitalisation programme in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 1999, with eight-year follow-up published in 2008. Published by Oxford University Press in 2004 following the authors' 1999 partial-hospitalisation trial.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Oxford University Press: Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Mentalization-Based Treatment(primary or catalogue record)
- Bateman & Fonagy (1999) randomised trial in American Journal of Psychiatry(scholarly or historical account)
Related
- (link to this entry)
NICE publishes clinical guidelines on depression and anxiety in England and Wales
In December 2004 the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) published guidance for the management of adult anxiety and depression in England and Wales. CG22 concerned panic disorder and generalised anxiety disorder; CG23 addressed depression in primary and secondary care.
NICE: Depression, CG23, published 6 December 2004 and subsequently replaced
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Why it matters
The guidance brought research-based recommendations into NHS care. The 2004 depression guideline organised care using a stepped model, but the recommendations were guidance for clinical judgement rather than a legal requirement to use a particular therapy.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The historical depression guideline described different levels of care and interventions according to a person’s needs and circumstances. It included psychological and medication options; recommendations differed by presentation and severity.
Important context and scope
These 2004 guidelines have been updated and replaced. NICE’s current depression and anxiety guidance should be consulted for present-day recommendations. The guidelines informed the later development of talking-therapy services, but did not by themselves establish the IAPT programme. NICE Clinical Guidelines CG22 (Anxiety) and CG23 (Depression) published in December 2004.
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Sources
- NICE: Depression, CG23, published 6 December 2004 and subsequently replaced(institutional record)
- National Collaborating Centre for Primary Care: Clinical Guidelines for the Management of Anxiety (2004), PubMed record(institutional record)
- NICE: Service-level interventions, 2009 guideline discussion of the 2004 stepped-care model(institutional record)
- UK Parliament: 2009 statement on psychological therapies in the 2004 depression guidance(institutional record)
- NICE: Depression in adults, current guideline NG222(institutional record)
- NICE: Generalised anxiety disorder and panic disorder in adults, CG113(institutional record)
- (link to this entry)
APA publishes its evidence-based practice in psychology policy report
The American Psychological Association (APA) Council approved its evidence-based practice in psychology policy in 2005; the Presidential Task Force report appeared in American Psychologist in 2006. The policy integrates the best available research with clinical expertise and the patient’s characteristics, culture and preferences.
APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice (2006) in American Psychologist
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Why it matters
The policy describes research evidence broadly and recognises clinical expertise and patient context as parts of psychological decision-making. It does not settle every debate about how to weigh evidence in an individual case.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The APA statement calls for clinical decisions to be made collaboratively, with attention to research, the person’s circumstances and preferences, and ongoing monitoring and adjustment.
Important context and scope
The policy drew on an evidence-based medicine definition adapted by the Institute of Medicine. In 2021 the APA adopted guidelines intended to clarify and extend the policy for psychological practice in health care. Policy statement approved by APA Council in August 2005 and published in American Psychologist in May-June 2006.
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Sources
- APA Presidential Task Force on Evidence-Based Practice (2006) in American Psychologist(primary or catalogue record)
- APA Policy Statement on Evidence-Based Practice in Psychology(institutional record)
- (link to this entry)
Pat Ogden, Kekuni Minton, and Clare Pain publish Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
Pat Ogden, Kekuni Minton and Clare Pain published Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy in 2006. The book presents a body-oriented approach alongside ideas about attachment, cognition and emotion.
W. W. Norton: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy
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Why it matters
The authors describe attention to bodily experience as part of psychotherapy for trauma. Their proposed explanations should be distinguished from established mechanisms or claims about all trauma treatments.
In psychotherapy and counselling
The approach pays attention to posture, movement, breathing and sensation alongside thoughts and emotions. Completing a defensive action is one proposed technique, not an established requirement for recovery.
Important context and scope
A 2020 pilot randomised trial evaluated a group intervention adapted from Sensorimotor Psychotherapy with a small sample. It cannot establish effectiveness for every version of the approach or every population. Published in the Norton Series on Interpersonal Neurobiology in October 2006.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- W. W. Norton: Trauma and the Body: A Sensorimotor Approach to Psychotherapy(primary or catalogue record)
- National Library of Medicine (NLM) Catalog: Trauma and the Body (2006)(primary or catalogue record)
- PubMed: Pilot randomised trial of a group adaptation of Sensorimotor Psychotherapy (2020)(primary or catalogue record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
England launches the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme
In 2008 the English NHS began the national rollout of Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT), following demonstration sites in Doncaster and Newham. The programme expanded access to recommended psychological therapies for adults with depression and anxiety disorders.
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Why it matters
The programme invested in training and services and collected routine outcome data. It became a substantial publicly funded programme in England; reported outcomes should be interpreted alongside access, data completeness and who enters treatment.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Services offered different levels of psychological support, including guided self-help and more intensive therapies. Routine questionnaires helped services monitor symptoms and report outcomes. The available treatment and referral pathway depend on the person’s circumstances and service.
Important context and scope
In 2023 IAPT was renamed NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression. An Office for National Statistics analysis of 2017–2018 data found that some groups, including older adults and disabled people with a probable common mental disorder, were underrepresented among those treated. These estimates have methodological limits and do not by themselves explain the causes of unequal access. National rollout began in 2008 following the 2006-2007 Doncaster and Newham demonstration sites.
Date type
Institutional or policy milestone
Sources
- Clark (2018): Realizing the Mass Public Benefit of Evidence-Based Psychological Therapies, IAPT programme history(scholarly or historical account)
- NHS England: NHS Talking Therapies for anxiety and depression manual(institutional record)
- Office for National Statistics: socio-demographic differences in IAPT use in England, April 2017 to March 2018(institutional record)
Related
- (link to this entry)
Paul Gilbert publishes The Compassionate Mind, formalising Compassion-Focused Therapy
British clinical psychologist Paul Gilbert published The Compassionate Mind in 2009, presenting the evolutionary, attachment, and neurophysiological foundations of Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT). Gilbert developed CFT after observing that clients with high shame and self-criticism could often generate logical alternative thoughts in CBT while still feeling internally attacked and unsoothed.
Gilbert (2009), Introducing Compassion-Focused Therapy (Advances in Psychiatric Treatment)
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Why it matters
CFT placed shame, self-criticism, and affiliation at the centre of psychological formulation, integrating evolutionary psychology and affective neuroscience with cognitive-behavioural and contemplative practices.
In psychotherapy and counselling
Clinicians map three interacting affect-regulation systems (threat/self-protection, drive/resource-seeking, and soothing/affiliative) and use Compassionate Mind Training, soothing rhythm breathing, and compassionate chair work to cultivate a supportive inner stance.
Important context and scope
Gilbert had been publishing on evolutionary psychopathology and social rank theory since the late 1980s and 1990s; the 2009 book and subsequent 2010 clinical guide consolidated CFT as a distinct therapeutic modality. Published in the UK by Constable & Robinson in 2009.
Date type
Publication year
Sources
- Gilbert (2009), Introducing Compassion-Focused Therapy (Advances in Psychiatric Treatment)(primary or catalogue record)
- Compassionate Mind Foundation: About Compassion Focused Therapy(institutional record)
Related
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.