Carl Whitaker labels his family therapy approach as experiential/symbolic family therapy. He stated that, “We presume that it is experience, not education that changes families (Keith & Whitaker, 1991, p108).” Whitakers approach and lack of theorizing as well as the deliberate refusal to create a systematic model that often made his theory style hard to understand and impossible to imitate. His method to therapy was an art, and he recommending substituting for theory faith in one’s own experience. This would allow the process of therapy to unfold in an authentic and genuine responsive manner. When a person or a family seeks therapy, it should be a growth process for the therapist and the individual/family. It’s intimate, interactive, and parallel
