A negotiation approach to intake and treatment choice

Treatment choice is the decision process whereby the psychotherapeutic methods and the psychotherapists are determined when psychotherapy is recommended for a specific client. In this article the problem of treatment choice is situated within an integrative view of psychotherapy. A review of the literature confirms the usefulness of the following concepts of treatment choice: client preferences, client control of the situation of choice, and the mutual acceptability of differing views of therapists and clients. These research findings reveal the importance of four elements in the psychotherapeutic intake strategy: exploration of the client's perspective, informing the client, negotiation as a process of conformation between the client's and the clinician's perspective, and the client's ultimate between alternative treatment proposals.