Third Wave Therapy

To best understand third-wave therapy, we must elucidate the first and second wave of therapy. Many people familiar with Sigmund Freud may recall the first advancement in the field of psychotherapy wherein there was a major shift from perceiving people as morally deficient to something pathological. While that may not sound politically correct, it is the foundation for our growing understanding of many symptoms. It’s downfall, as you may imagine, is it’s stigmatizing labels like borderline personality and it’s lack of cultural, societal sensitivity.

Next came from the problem-focused therapies which emerged in the 1950s. It grew out of an attempt to remedy the over-focus on pathology and the past. Problem-focused therapies, including behavioral therapy, cognitive approaches, and family therapy, didn’t assume clients were sick. They focused more on the here-and-now instead of searching for hidden meanings and ultimate causes. The theory presupposes that the conscious sense of self as something that had to be worked around or outwitted thereby not entirely supplanting the First Wave Therapies.

In the early 1980s, some therapists began exploring embracing concepts that the resources reside in the client, not the therapist. The therapist began facilitating growth on the client’s terms and helping clients embrace their inner strengths. While third-wave therapy focuses on the here and now, there are reverence concepts from the prior therapies. Therapists acknowledge the tremendous power of the past and how it can shape a person’s identity and culture while holding the pragmatism of day to day issues synonymous with second wave therapies.

The attraction of third-wave therapy is the perspective that the problem is the problem, not the person. Many of the techniques of third-wave therapies involve externalization of the issues. Through externalization, the client avoids the trap of becoming attached or defined by the problem.

Third wave therapies include: