ABSTRACT
Grounding conceptualization in the data of lived experience helps to ensure that therapy is tailored to address and meet the needs of the individual client, thereby maximizing its effectiveness. Approaching treatment in this way helps the clinician avoid excessive reliance on theoretical preconceptions that may hinder accurate understanding of the constellation of life experiences and current difficulties that are unique to each client. At the same time, some type of structure is needed for translating the complexities of a conceptualization that attempts to encompass the multiple possible influences on peA survivors' presenting difficulties into a coherently organized program of intervention. Plunging into the therapeutic process without the guidance of a well thought-out, planned approach creates the risk that treatment will meander indefinitely in an aimless and unproductive fashion. At the other extreme, adhering rigidly to a set therapeutic blueprint without regard for the idiosyncratic aspects of the client's personality, history and current life circumstances can foster the deployment of interventions that are irrelevant to or inappropriate for her or him, resulting in a similarly ineffective outcome.
