There are many types of therapy and many theoretical approaches, but all tend to share the following assumption:

Therapy must be tailored to the individual. Each person’s emotional make-up is unique, since each person has his or her personal history, life experience, and personality style. In addition, each person has a characteristic way of tackling difficult problems, and we all have strong points and weak points which help or hinder us in coping with emotional troubles. Therapy works best when all these factors are taken into account. The “best” therapy for each person depends on all these factors. Standardized approaches to treatment are rarely flexible enough to account for the uniqueness of each individual.