What might psychotherapy have to do with peace?

The first stage is what most people picture when they think of psychotherapy and is what is usually taught in psychotherapy training programs, including most clinical psychology programs. It has to do with the healing or resolution of symptoms or presenting complaints. In this stage the psychotherapist is regarded as an expert who applies techniques or procedures to bring about the desired result, the restoration of some form of normal functioning in the patient, and when that result is achieved the treatment ends. The techniques or procedures are based on objective evidence derived from carefully designed experiments and can be “manualized”—i.e. written down as a series of instructions that any fairly intelligent person could read and follow. The depression or anxiety is relieved, the relationship repaired, the grieving completed, the obsessions or compulsions have become manageable—the patient is cured and the job is done. In some cases, of course, this stage may go on for a very long time, even indefinitely. If the treatment is unable to resolve the presenting complaints but is able to hold the symptoms at bay as long as the treatment continues then it is considered “supportive” and may last a lifetime.