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The question of results and their cause is ever present in the minds of all workers in psychotherapy. It is always puzzling to realize that positive results seem to occur no matter what theory the therapist uses. Some attribute this to the transference phenomenon and others to the therapist functioning as an open person with an open theory in the therapeutic situation. Dr. Jerome Frank, in Persuasion and Healing, attempts to define more clearly the nature of this process and to sift out its manifold aspects. In this book, subtitled A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy, he has looked at various forms of helping which occur between men. He examines religious healing and revivalism, thought reform, placebo effects, experimental studies of persuasion, and individual, group, and institutional psychotherapy. He begins and ends with the tentative hypothesis that “the features common to all types of psychotherapy probably contribute more to their efficacy than the characteristics which differentiate them.”
Frank has found certain common elements in religious revivalism and healing, thought reform, and placebo effects. In all of these situations an individual is in a state of anxiety and feels out of touch, out of step, and isolated from larger group participation. Meanwhile, there are members of the larger group designated as helpers who act as mediators between the distressed individual and the larger group. Because of their standing in the community and their own particular qualities, the helpers have “the ability to arouse hope.” With this ability and standing the helper gains powers, one of which is the subtle power to “coerce” the distressed person into releasing his individual assumptions about living and methods of problem solving. In addition, the helper has a truly deep concern for the sick person and wants him to get well. In thought reform, the helper's status often depends on his success in converting the individual to the group's ideas.
Frank emphasizes the exten