The problem of truth in psychotherapy: a phenomenological approach to treatment.

Scientific method cannot establish whether a patient's productions in psychotherapy are truthful because of the nature of Cartesian dualism. Phenomenology, however, is an alternative that clarifies what is truthful in therapy and provides insight into the process of therapeutic change itself. Basic ideas of Paul Ricoeur and the epistemology of Michael Polanyi are applied to the treatment setting to evaluate change. Clinical examples illustrate the usefulness of exegesis as a paradigm for understanding the process of therapy.