Dreams and nightmares about the next big revolution in psychotherapy

The future of psychotherapy as a part of psychological practice is yet to be written, but there are both ominous and hopeful signs to which we must attend if we wish to avoid the pitfalls of the past and to write a positive history. The present is the future that we dreamed of 20 years ago. At that time, psychologists' concerns with being included as health providers launched psychotherapy on a path that has had both positive and negative effects on our growth. The consequences included current struggles with managed healthcare. The current infatuation with obtaining prescription authority threatens to move us further down this road, to take us further from our strengths as a research-minded, psychological discipline, and to further fractionate out field. Thus, the next revolution in psychotherapy could be either a nightmare or a dream, depending on whether we honor or disavow our strengths.