About the Psychotherapist Genealogy

(click on image to view diagram)   Click here to download a printable PDF

The objective of this genealogy is to provide an overview of the historical development and mutual influences of key figures in the field of psychotherapy.
In making this genealogy I faced a great dilemma: completeness vs usefulness. The links  in reality are endlessly more complex than depicted in this diagram. May be in the era of classical psychoanalysis the influences were few, but e.g. modern integrative therapists like Greenberg or Benjamin drank from virtual all great orientational wells. But in order to get to knowledge it is necessary to reduce information. So I decided that I would limit the all these influences to the 2 to 3  most important ones per therapist.. 

I used 3 kinds of colors to depict the type of influence that therapist have had on each other:

Purple Lines  reflect the influences of a kind of a personal mentorship between therapists: the therapist studied with, was trained, treated or supervised by a senior therapist.

Green Lines reflect an ideational influence, usually through writings, but it may also from working together or friendship.

Blue Lines which reflect integration between ideas or techniques of different therapy families.

The  choice of which influences should be considered most important is not always clear, and I understand that many people might disagree with my options and would prefer a different emphasis. My choices often stem from historical sources, and from accounts of the therapist themselves, either from written interviewsor from personal commnicatiions I had with them. In some cases it might also reflect more of my personal interpretation. Also the choice of  the therapists that are included for being considered keyfigures, might be in some cases debatable. I do feel, however, that overall the result is sufficiently consensual to be a helpful tool, to reflect the historical development psychotherapy.

I'm indebted to many people who contributed with their ideas and reviews (see acknowledgements).  
If you also want to contribute, I'll be happy to receive your comments at hanswelling@yahoo.com