[5] The model is a postmodernist approach that maintains that human reality is created through social construction and dialogue, and aims to avoid "the traditional Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV) used to diagnose individuals".
[3] It uses the idea that the clients become subject to mental pain when they have tried to apply "oppressive [']stories['], which dominate the person's life.
It states that the client internalizes what they regard as unreasonable societal standards, and in doing so are aspiring to ideals of fulfillment and excellence, leading to, for example, self-starvation and anorexia, extreme self-criticism in clinical depression, or a sense of powerlessness in the face of threat and anxiety";[6] obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and trichotillomania (hair pulling).
In this approach therapists avoid taking dogmatic postures and try to remain flexible to have their perspectives altered by their clients.
In the case of more serious mental issues such as schizophrenia, there is a likelihood that 30% of clients will have a poor long term prognosis, as stated by Linzen in 2003.