Observed from the outside counselling and psychotherapy appear to be fragmented. This state of affairs enables the contradictory trends of single schools or traditions claiming a certain level of uniqueness for their methodology, whilst at the same time individual practitioners create their own methodological cocktails from competing traditions. What is absent is a general theoretical framework. I believe that I can present a reasonable case for proposing that there is a viable framework for considering the purpose of all counselling and psychotherapy.