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Robert Langs' views have been expressed in a series of books culminating in this book and The Psychotherapeutic Conspiracy, also published in 1982. Psychotherapy: A Basic Text would better serve its purpose as a basic text if it were more succinctly written. Langs' convoluted, repetitive style requires a persevering and dedicated reader who will endure — with intense concentration — to the end.
In this volume, Dr. Langs meticulously outlines his “truth therapy” approach to the psychotherapeutic process and zealously condemns all other forms as “lie therapies.” His contention is that triggers originating from the therapist often reflect his unconscious pathological needs and wishes, distorting the interaction and harming the patient. However, the therapist need not be condemned for this behavior; it is unconscious, commonplace and, of course, he has good intentions. The solution is to employ Langs' “truth therapy,” whereby the therapist takes on the continual, arduous task of monitoring the patient-analyst exchange through trigger decoding.
There is value in Langs' admonition to be aware of the effects of therapeutic intervention. His emphasis on structure and framework within the therapeutic situation has interesting implications, but they are lost in his complex, unique vocabulary on personality states and his dogmatic distinction between the truth therapy and the continuum of lie therapies. In addition, his intense monofocus on pathological countertransference overlooks the countless observations and varied conclusions in the psychoanalytic literature on the same subject.
Langs appears magisterial and does not address psychotherapies other than his. He disregards psychotherapeutic research concerning methodological and efficacy issues. Researchers have asked, as expressed by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland,
Is it true that “Everyone has won and all must receive prizes?”
They have replied with a resounding “Yes — therapies help.” Langs conversely implies that all t