lation. Severe addictions, and psychoses may require long-term interventions and theuse of psychoactive drug therapies. Although its present wide spread use and acceptance is a ratherrecent phenomenon, the concept of brief therapy is well rooted in historical foundation. From theearly formative days of psychoanalysis Freud was looking for a quick cure for neurosis and did notintend on the long drawn-out process that psychoanalysis eventually became. I think he would haveliked the brief psychodynamic therapies of today. The research shows that there is no significantdifference in outcome between short and long-term approaches, but short-term is much moreefficient when used with appropriate clients. In effect, even the majority of long-term therapyapproaches are short (by default, not by design), when you consider the actual number of sessionsthe average patient attends.In conclusion, with the pressures of an ever increasingly fast paced society such as ours, theneed for an effective, efficient, and accessible therapy/counseling approach is obvious. Short-termor brief counseling/therapy is that approach. Brief therapies have been adapted to most of the majortherapy/counseling theories so there should be an approach that suits just about every one. It seemsinhumane to treat people for long periods of time at huge expense if they can be effectively andefficiently be helped with short-term approaches. Classic Psychoanalysis, among other long-termapproaches, need to be more honest with themselves about who is really being served in the majorityof time-unlimited interventions. Old habits and attitudes often die hard, and this is especially truewhen they are linked to individuals professional identities and bank accounts. When long-termintervention are truly needed, its great to know we have them, but in the face of the evidence,professionals should not make, or maintain, generalized questionable claims about the efficacy andmerits of open-ende...
