Psychotherapists' implicit theories of therapy

The concept of an "implicit theory" is raised to describe the private beliefs that a therapist holds about therapy aside from those provided by an explicit theoretical orientation (e.g, behavioral, psychodynamic). It is suggested that the combination of an explicit theory and an implicit theory will account for more variance than an explicit theory alone when studying psychotherapy process and outcome. Examples of implicit theories include "principles of practice," "role definition," "professional dilemmas," and "images." The assessment of implicit theories is described and the application of implicit theories to psychotherapy research is illustrated in relation to three topics: the identification of expert therapists, improving training in manualized treatments, and understanding negative patient outcomes.