attention certain problems that need to be addressed. However, in the long run such external constraints run the risk of displacing and weakening our internal constraints. These internal constraints seem to me to be our only long term hope. If we rely on some of us to wield the power to constrain others of us, who will constrain the some of us who are constraining the others? If power corrupts, where will those in power turn for the moral awareness that could prevent them from being corrupted? If I take a maintenance antibiotic to combat any infection that I might get, having the antibiotic doing the work my immune system should and could, how can I expect my immune system to remain robust or even reasonable competent?
ON THE TRIVIALIZATION OF PSYCHOTHERAPY
Given the significance noted above of reclaiming deep introspection through psychotherapy, it is noteworthy that psychotherapy itself is in some ways under attack at the present time. At the most superficial level this attack has to do with funding–i.e. payment for psychotherapy by private health insurance and public agencies. Although a statistical case can be made for the proposition that good psychotherapy pays for itself in increased productivity and reduced utilization of other general medical resources, there seems to be a trend toward the restriction of third party funding for psychotherapy. One theory frequently put forward to explain this strange trend is that it is simply a result of the greed and shortsightedness of the CEOs of managed care organizations. No doubt these factors play a role.
At a deeper level a more pernicious trend is emerging–the trivialization of psychotherapy. Those who find deep introspection to be