Personal styles and universal polarities: Implications for therapeutic practice

This paper summarises the findings of a programme of research which was initiated in a setting where a therapeutic community unit was introduced, and struggled to survive, in a psychiatric hospital. The research allowed the development of a framework for the matching of clients, therapists, and treatment approaches in terms of a convergent/outer-directed versus divergent/inner-directed dimension. This dimension is related in the paper to similar polarities which have arisen in a wide range of different spheres of thought. The interplay and balance of their contrasting poles is seen as central to the rhythm of the universe and to survival. It is argued that the achievement of a similar balance is an essential component for effective therapy, and is necessary for the survival of a therapeutic community or any therapeutic service