[6][7][8] Future-directed therapy, an intervention with a similar emphasis on the future (developed independently of the previous future-oriented therapies), was first tested by psychologist Jennice Vilhauer and colleagues in 2011,[9][10] and in 2014 was the subject of a self-help book that aimed to help readers "overcome negative emotions, identify what you want in life, transform limiting beliefs, take action, live ready for success".
[4] Melges's FOT is based on a psychodynamic model and was intended to be an adjunctive intervention, not a treatment for psychiatric disorders.
Melges described it a "useful adjunct to past- and present-oriented therapies"[3] to help patients with issues such as low self-esteem and identity diffusion.
That is, problems with time, such as distortions of sequence, rate, and temporal perspective, disrupt the normal interplay between future images, plans of action, and emotions, thereby leading to lack of anticipatory control and vicious cycles (spirals).
"The key to relieving depression lies not in untangling the Gordian knot of the past but in accepting and planning for the uncertain future.