APA Dictionary of Psychology

an approach to psychotherapy that focuses on the client’s moment-to-moment experience and guides their cognitive and affective processing in the direction of client-defined goals. The therapeutic alliance, internal patterns of viewing the self and others, and an emphasis on therapeutic process over content are core elements of this therapy. See also client-centered therapy; gestalt therapy; humanistic therapy. [proposed by South African-born Canadian psychologist Leslie S. Greenberg (1945–  )]