The debate on whether therapy is science with measurable outcomes and verifiable hypotheses, or art, beyond technique , was settled for a while with the view that therapy was “somewhere in between.” Nevertheless, in recent years, the belief that therapy is mainly art has gained enough support to make it a general belief rather than a subject of debate. For this reason, also, the therapist’s use of self has become an important topic of discussion on the effectiveness of therapy.

In the training program announcements of some therapy institutes, the first level of training is referred to (and I think rightfully so) as “craftmanship”, and the second level as “art.” Is the therapist, then, a craftsman at the first level, learning skills,techniques, and approaches, and an artist at an advanced level when he can turn his therapy into art?

The presenter’s belief is that therapists have as great a variety of personalities as clients do, and that all can work effectively in the therapeutic partnership. At the same time, besides essential therapeutic skills, there are essential personality factors that are needed in order to enable the therapist to turn the therapy process into a“dance of therapy”, and into art.