Cognitive-behavioral and existential-phenomenological approaches to therapy : complementary or conflicting paradigms?

The relationship between the cognitive-behavioral and existential-phenomenological traditions in therapy is examined. While Beck cites phenomenological writers such as Heidegger, Husserl, and Binswanger, he does not initiate any dialogue with this tradition in depth. Parallels are drawn between the goals of psychotherapy as outlined by Rogers and goals identified in the contemporary cognitive-behavioral literature, between cognitive therapy's approach to clients' underlying assumptions and the phenomenological reduction as described by Husserl, and between a shared acceptance of the therapeutic use of the client-therapist interaction. While, in both approaches, therapists take on an educative role, in each approach a different aspect of the learning process is focused on. Phenomenological therapy's attitude to reality testing, the dangers of a directive stance by the therapist, the conflict between empathy and rational dialogue, and cognitive therapy's view of emotion are also discussed. The complementarity between the two approaches is emphasized and a continuing dialogue recommended