Guru-chela relationship: the possibility of a therapeutic paradigm.

Book reviewed in this article: In every culture, doctors and patients must not only have a common idiom to describe the subjective experience of neurotic illness, but also must agree upon a specific paradigm for the therapist-patient relationship they would jointly forge. It has been suggested that the gurū-chelā relationship may serve as a model for therapy with Indian patients. This paper examines this traditional relationship against the background of Western psychotherapy, and explores the possibilities of its being used as a therapeutic paradigm.