Clinical practice with severely retarded and psychotic clients requires a change in theory and technique. Based on his own research and experience, Prouty describes the changes needed to reach "low functioning" clients not generally accessible to psychotherapy.

Clinical practice with severely retarded and psychotic clients requires a change in theory and technique. Based on original research and practice, Prouty describes the changes needed to reach "low-functioning" clients not generally accessible to psychotherapy. Evolving from Carl Rogers' assertion that "Psychological Contact" is the first condition of a therapeutic relationship, Pre-Therapy is a technique that can be applied to regressed psychotics and dual-diagnosed mentally-retarded patients, as well as to other poorly integrated populations. Drawing from his own practice with extreme clients, he shows how Pre-Therapy can be used to facilitate these "pre-conditions" of therapy. He further shows that treatment of hallucinations reveals them to be expressions of deep trauma and profound rendings of the self-structure.