Epistemic Style: Implications for Cognitive Psychotherapy

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-1991

Department

Psychology

Abstract

An epistemic framework for understanding recent developments and differentiations among the cognitive psychotherapies is presented. Drawing upon Royce's theory of knowledge and concept of epistemic style (Royce, 1964; Royce & Powell, 1983), three epistemic forms of cognitive psychotherapy are distinguished: the empirical, rational, and metaphorical. Within this context, the unique epistemic/cognitive emphases, criteria for assessing knowledge validity, and theoretical models associated with each of the epistemic forms are described. Implications of this framework for psychotherapeutic practice are also discussed with particular regard to the viability of the epistemic style concept as a matching variable.

Publication Title

Psychotherapy

Volume

28

Issue

4

First Page

588

Last Page

597

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