It is usually presumed that there must be a reasonable amount of contact between therapist and client before it is possible to speak in terms of a meaningful therapy. Yet there are people with severe contact disturbances who need help. In this article, based on the client-centered frame of reference, a method is described which makes it possible to relieve severe contact disturbances and make the client accessible to more regular kinds of therapy. The method, developed by Garry Prouty, is called pretherapy. In the introduction, Prouty’s frame of reference and his working method are described. It is followed by an introduction to pretherapy methods. The latter refers to the philosophical and to the psychological starting point as well. Then a concrete description of the methods is given. The second part of the article deals with the application of pretherapy to mentally handicapped people.
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