Jeffery Smith describes a 5-step pathway to go beyond the fragmentation of the different schools of psychotherapy and define how psychotherapy works. He discusses: (1) What psychotherapy treats (at 0′ 13″) (2) Entrenched Maladaptive Patterns (at 5′ 28″) (3) The learned fear paradigm (at 16′ 06″) (4) Requirements for change (at 29′ 12″) (5) How this dovetails with other approaches (at 34′ 26″) See also: Podcast notes (PDF) Continuation of this topic: –  how this perspective applies in clinical practice – Video of live Q & A on this topic Jeffery Smith MD knew, as a Stanford freshman, that he wanted to be a therapist. Coming from an academic family, that was his entree into what, in the early sixties was called “the real world.” Twelve years later, no less enthusiastic, and married to a French wife, he finished residency in New York and began to practice. An abiding interest in how words exchanged and relational events are able to foster change soon became the theme of his professional life. Mid-career, his interest in therapeutic action dovetailed with a mission to move the field of psychotherapy out of the era of competing schools to one where therapists follow fundamental processes and choose techniques according to client needs. Towards that mission, he started www.howtherapyworks.com, wrote a textbook, Psychotherapy: A Practical Guide, books for laypeople, and established Howtherapyworks Training, a “nondenominational” online program for intermediate to advanced therapists. Published January 2021.