Abstract

1. Introduction

Professionals who work with people have often theories, concepts, and ideals that are related to their interactions with their clients. Practitioners understand their own work (and related practices such as training or development) in terms of these theories, and much of the research around professional fields is conducted by reference to such theories. In healthcare, for example, ideals of ‘patient-centeredness’ are widely known. Such ideals involve normative descriptions of what the interaction between professionals and clients ‘should’ be like. In psychotherapy, family therapy, and psychoanalysis, different therapeutic theories involve not only ideas about the nature of the pathogenic mental or social processes, but also concepts and standards for the therapeutic interactions in which remedies are sought for these pathologies. Even theories that primarily focus on somatic processes, such as medical (allopathic or homeopathic) theories, may have significant consequences for the interactions between patients and professionals adhering to these theories.