THE THERAPISTS DILEMMA - USING NOMOTHETIC INFORMATION TO ANSWER IDIOGRAPHIC QUESTION

The therapist is faced with the dilemma of conducting therapy at an idiographic level while psychology research is conducted and organized at a nomothetic level. Increasingly, psychiatric diagnosis serves as the conceptual bridge from the science of psychology to its clinical applications. Yet diagnosis has a number of well-known limitations for determining treatment. An alternative conceptual bridge from nomothetic science to clinical applications draws from three overlapping categories: 1) general causal principles derived from all areas of scientific psychology, 2) probabilities and base rate data associated with the covariation of psychological problems, and 3) clinical outcome research. Specific suggestions as to how therapists can use these nomothetic categories to.form treatment strategies are given.