ANAHEIM, Calif. - The small car careered toward a pile of barrels labeled
"Danger TNT," then turned sharply, ramming through a mock brick wall and into a
dark tunnel. A light appeared ahead, coming fast and head-on. A locomotive
whistled.
"Uh-oh," said one of the passengers, Dr. Martin Seligman, a psychologist and a
pioneer in the study of positive emotions.
But in a moment, the car scudded safely under the light, out through the
swinging doors of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride and into the warm, clear light that
seemed to radiate from the Southern California pavement.
"Well," Dr. Seligman said. "I don't know that I expected to be doing that."
One of several prominent therapists who agreed to visit Disneyland at the
invitation of this reporter, Dr. Seligman was here in mid-December for a
conference on the state of psychotherapy, its current challenges and its future.
And a wild ride it was.
Because it was clear at this landmark meeting that, although the participants
agreed it was a time for bold action, psychotherapists were deeply divided over
whether that action should be guided by the cool logic of science or a spirit of
humanistic activism. The answer will determine not only what psychotherapy
means, many experts said, but its place in the 21st century.
"In the 1960's and 1970's, we had these characters like Carl Rogers, Minuchin,
Frankl; psychotherapy felt like a social movement, and you just wanted to be a
part of it," said Dr. Jeffrey Zeig, a psychologist who heads the Milton H.
Erickson Foundation, which every five years since 1980 has sponsored the
conference in honor of Dr. Erickson, a pioneer in the use of hypnosis and brief
therapy techniques.
"Now," Dr. Zeig continued, "well, therapists are becoming more like technicians,
and we're trying to find the common denominator from the different schools and
methods to see what works best, and where to go from here."
The meeting brought together some 9,000 psychologists, social workers and
students, along with many of the world's most celebrated living therapists,
among them the psychoanalyst Dr. Otto Kernberg, the Hungarian-born psychiatrist
and skeptic Dr. Thomas Szasz, and Dr. Albert Bandura, the pioneer in
self-directed behavior change.
"This is like a rock concert for most of us," said Peggy Fitzgerald, 56, a
social worker and teacher from Sacramento, holding up a program covered in
autographs. Ms. Fitzgerald said she attended war protests during the 1960's, and
"this has some of that same feeling."
Calls to arms rang through several conference halls. In the opening convocation,
Dr. Hunter "Patch" Adams - the charismatic therapist played on screen by Robin
Williams - displayed on a giant projection screen photos from around the world
of burned children, starving children, diseased children, some lying in their
own filth.
He called for a "last stand of loving care" to prevail over the misery in the
world, its wars and "our fascistic government." Overcome by his own message, Dr.
Adams eventually fell to the floor of the stage in tears.
Many in the audience of thousands were deeply moved; many others were
bewildered. Some left the arena.
At the conference, many said they found it heartening that psychotherapy was
finding some scientific support.
For example, cognitive therapy, in which people learn practical
thought-management techniques to dispel self-defeating assumptions and soothe
anxieties, has proved itself in many studies.
The therapy, some participants said, has even attracted the attention of the
Nobel Committee. The two men who developed it, Dr. Albert Ellis, a psychologist
in New York, and Dr. Aaron Beck, a psychiatrist at the University of
Pennsylvania, brought crowds to their feet.
A frequent theme of the meeting was that therapists could not only relieve
anxieties and despair but help clients realize a truly fulfilling life - an idea
based on emerging research.
In his talk, Dr. Seligman spelled out the principles of this vision, called
positive psychology. By learning to express gratitude, to savor the day's
pleasures and to nurture native strengths, a people can become more absorbed in
their daily lives and satisfied with them, his research has suggested.