Books / Clinical practice & common factors
Persuasion and Healing: A Comparative Study of Psychotherapy
Jerome D. Frank’s 1961 book compares psychotherapy with other forms of healing and considers features that therapies may share.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Jerome D. Frank
Edition: 1961 Johns Hopkins Press edition
Publisher: Johns Hopkins Press
Edition year: 1961
Language and origin: English (United States)
Form and genre: Clinical & Theoretical Monograph
Level: Intermediate
Historical era: 1960–1979 · Humanistic, Cognitive & Systemic Turn
Covers: Comparative study of psychotherapy and healing; Therapeutic relationships, expectations and cultural context; A historical account of factors that therapies may share
APA 7th reference: Frank, J. D. (1961). Persuasion and healing: A comparative study of psychotherapy. Johns Hopkins Press.
What it is
Persuasion and Healing is a comparative study of psychotherapy by psychiatrist Jerome D. Frank. The first edition listed here was published in 1961 by Johns Hopkins Press. Julia B. Frank co-authored a later third edition.
What it covers
The publisher describes the later edition as comparing psychotherapy with healing practices across cultures and considering the influence of relationships and expectations. These are features of the authors’ account; a comparison does not establish that every therapy works through the same mechanisms.
Theory and evidence
The book is associated with discussions of common factors in psychotherapy. Its historical account should be distinguished from current research on particular treatments and populations. This entry does not establish that different therapies have equivalent effects.
Limits of this entry
The 1961 book and the paired paper were not read in full for this record. The publisher description consulted is for a later edition, so it cannot establish the contents of every edition.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Some Implicit Common Factors in Diverse Methods of Psychotherapy (Saul Rosenzweig, 1936)
Reference: Rosenzweig, S. (1936). Some implicit common factors in diverse methods of psychotherapy. American Journal of Orthopsychiatry, 6(3), 412–415.
An earlier paper on factors common to different psychotherapies. The full paper was not consulted for this entry.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: Jerome D. Frank published Persuasion and Healing in 1961 with Johns Hopkins Press. (The National Library of Medicine catalogue was consulted; the complete book was not reviewed.) [Source 1: National Library of Medicine. Persuasion and healing: a comparative study of psychotherapy. Catalogue record.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Catalogue records Jerome D. Frank and the 1961 Johns Hopkins Press edition.
Johns Hopkins University Press. Persuasion and Healing, updated edition.
Supports: Publisher description of the updated edition and identification of Julia B. Frank as co-author of the third edition; not a review of the 1961 text.