The Phenomenon of Interpretation

Most psychotherapeutic techniques rely heavily upon interpretive intervention to bring about changes in the patient. In the interpretation, the psychotherapist focuses the patient's intellect on specific aspects of his internal or external behavior and then guides him to an understanding of these occurrences. Such understanding or insight has been observed to be therapeutic. The therapeutic effect is recognized by the patient's response to the interpretation. At times these interpretive interventions relieve anxiety and comfort the patient and at other times the level of anxiety is elevated; also on occasion the new understanding leads to changes in behavior of a more or less permanent nature.

There is a wealth of literature that discusses the technical aspects of interpretive interventions within the framework of a number of psychotherapeutic systems.1 Psychoanalytic therapists are concerned with accurary, form, timing, depth, and quantity of interpretation.2 Existential therapists see the interpretive intervention as an example of man in action with his fellow man3; they see the interpretation as leading to the opening of the future in the existential moment of surprise. The process therapists are primarily concerned with the transactional aspects of interpretation; they focus on the collaborative effort between the patient and the therapist within the framework of the two-person system of medical treatment.4 Each of these approaches has contributed to our understanding of interpretation. Some authors conclude that certain interventions are correct, while others are incorrect. Since interventions are made within the framework of a relationship, one can never be quite certain whether the observed change in the patient's behavior is indeed the result of the specific effect of an intervention. It is precisely this perplexity which has made the identification of specific effects of interpretation so difficult. The problem is further complicated by the observation that,