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One cannot live without encountering the problem of values. Certainly, one cannot go through psychotherapy without becoming involved implicitly and explicitly in the problem. Nor can one engage in psychotherapy as a therapist without bringing certain convictions about values into one's work. These convictions may or may not be specifically communicated to the patient, but they underlie the therapist's activity; they help determine the goal he sets for himself and his patient; and they are consciously or unconsciously reflected in his questions, statements or other reactions.”1,p. 1
The operation of systems of value, conscious or unconscious, is an ever-present part of the therapist's work. Since values cannot be avoided or denied, they should be recognized, and something known of their origins and of what happens in the therapeutic field when they are challenged or confirmed. The differing values of therapist and patient need not be looked upon as nuisances that impede treatment; in the identification and understanding of the differences in the views of the participants, the nature of the therapeutic relationship is advanced. Should the differences be so great that they are seemingly irreconcilable, change to another therapist is recommended. Should the differences be so slight as to appear to be nonexistent, therapy may be jeopardized by the fact that the ideas of one person may seem so “natural” to the other that they are accepted without question.
The definition of value includes the following: “worth or worthiness (of persons) in respect to rank or personal qualities; the relative status of a thing, or the estimate in which it is held, according to its real or supposed worth, usefulness, or importance” (Oxford English Dictionary). “Something intrinsically valuable or desirable” (Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 7th ed.).