Philosophical assumptions of psychotherapeutic paradigms

In the collective mind and even in than of some professionals, psychotherapy belongs to a field of strictly scientific specialisation, with empirically verifiable results, stemming from and confirmed by clinical practice. If that is the case, then philosophical speculations seem to be out of place here, as everything is based on techniques and procedures which can be tested and confirmed pragmatically. Our study sets out to highlight the philosophical commitment, which is sometimes implicit, other times explicit, but always present, of psychotherapeutic paradigms, a commitment which constitutes the very founding theoretical reasoning of the said practices. (C) 2015 Published by Elsevier Ltd.