Similarities and differences between the schools of psychotherapy

In empirical research about psychotherapy it is usual to discuss similarities and differences between the schools of psychotherapy. It is more uncommon to analyze the historical roots for these discussions. This overview describes the subject of similarities and differences between the most common orientations in psychotherapy from a number of perspectives. First there is a discussion about how the founders of different psychotherapy schools have argued about this theme. Then the issue of how those questions have been analyzed by more recent clinicians is brought up. Finally a survey of this area based on empirical research is presented. An important conclusion is that the founders of psychotherapy have seen more similarities with other orientations than is usually acknowledged. Another conclusion is that the similarities between different schools of psychotherapy have increased, so in the future those different orientations will be replaced by a more common science of psychotherapy.