CONTRAST, CONTRADICTION, AND CHANGE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY

The experience of contrast not only plays a fundamental role in moment-to-moment construction of reality, but also may function as a common source of change across diverse forms of psychotherapy. This article (a) examines salient sources of contrast associated with psychodynamic, interpersonal, behavioral, cognitive-behavioral, and experiential psychotherapies and (b) proposes a developmental framework for understanding the role of contrast in the process of change.