The Process of Psychotherapy

The Process of Psychotherapy
Author: Donald J. Kiesler
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 490
Release: 2017-09-29
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1351476165

To understand the process of psychotherapeutic change, one must look for the answers in the psychotherapeutic process itself. This process involves the exchange of communications between two (or more) participants, and as a result of the exchange, modifications in the personality and behavior of the patient are expected to occur. But what is the nature of the therapeutic messages? How do they produce changes in the patient? What aspects of the messages are important for therapeutic change? And if the therapeutic force is somehow encoded in the messages, where shall we look for it- in sentence structure, in emotional overtones, in gestures and body movements? The Process of Psychotherapy is divided into two major parts, dealing respectively with method and with systems. In Part I, the author presents an analysis of psychotherapy process research from a communications perspective, developing an incisive and detailed analysis of the methodological issues that confront researchers in this field and suggesting theoretical and empirical strategies for addressing these issues. Part II provides the first exhaustive and detailed summary of extant psychotherapy process systems. The author first deals with direct systems, those procedures of content analysis or rating scales that have been developed to assess the exchanges between therapists and patients. Seventeen major direct process systems are presented in detail and are summarized with ample citations to the literature. The final section of the book offers an exhaustive listing and concise description of various indirect measures of psychotherapy process, which do not assess the verbatim interview exchanges of the participants in therapy but rather assess the participants' perceptions via self-report or standard analogue procedures. This book is a basic, sophisticated, and exhaustive coverage of psychotherapy process and content analysis that will become the standard and authoritative source for anyone interested in the process of psychotherapy, whether as student, researcher, or practitioner.

The Psychotherapeutic Process

The Psychotherapeutic Process
Author: Leslie S. Greenberg
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 734
Release: 1986-12-09
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780898626513

This comprehensive volume represents the first state-of-the-art handbook to appear in the field of process research in over a decade. Updating and expanding upon Kiesler's groundbreaking work (1973), Greenberg and Pinsof present here the most systems for understanding the mechanisms of change in individual, group, and family treatment. Special attention is given to the role of the alliance between therapist and client. Emphasizing the impact that empirical investigations can make on practice, the Handbook presents a wide variety of up-to-date process research systems and consolidates methodological information in the field.

How Psychotherapy Works

How Psychotherapy Works
Author: Joseph Weiss
Publisher: Guilford Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1993-08-20
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 9780898625486

In the landmark volume, THE PSYCHOANALYTIC PROCESS, Joseph Weiss presented a bold, original theory of the therapeutic process. Now, in HOW PSYCHOTHERAPY WORKS, Weiss extends his powerful theory and focuses on its clinical applications, often challenging many familiar ideas about the psychotherapeutic process. Weiss' theory, which is supported by formal, empirical research, assumes that psychopathology stems from unconscious, pathogenic beliefs that the patient acquires by inference from early traumatic experiences. He suffers unconsciously from these beliefs and the feelings of guilt, shame, and remorse that they engender, and he is powerfully motivated unconsciously to change them. According to Weiss's theory, the patient exerts considerable control over unconscious mental life, and he makes and carries out plans for working with the therapist to change his pathogenic beliefs. He works to disprove these beliefs by testing them with the therapist. The theory derives its clinical power not only from its empirical origin and closeness to observation, and also from Weiss's cogent exposition of how to infer, from the patient's history and behavior in treatment, what the patient is trying to accomplish and how the therapist may help. By focusing on fundamental processes, Weiss's observations challenge several current therapeutic dichotomies--"supportive versus uncovering," "interactive versus interpretive," and "relational versus analytic." Written in simple, direct language, Weiss demonstrates how to uncover the patient's unconscious plan and how the therapist can help the patient to carry out his plans by passing the patient's tests. He includes many examples of actual treatment sessions, which serve to make his theory clear and usable. The chapters include highly original views about the patient's motivations, the role of affect in the patient's mental life, and the therapist's basic task. The book also contains chapters on how to pass the patient's tests, and how to use interpretation with the patient. Dr. Weiss also provides a powerful theory of dreams and demonstrates how dreams can be utilized in clinical practice. This distinguished volume is a major contribution that will profoundly affect the way one conceptualizes and practices therapy. Theoreticians, investigators, and clinicians alike will find it enlightening reading.

Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process

Psychotherapy as a Developmental Process
Author: Michael Basseches
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 356
Release: 2009-08-05
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1135598665

For all those engaged in psychotherapy practice, regardless of modality or approach, the goal of this book is to provide a framework and method for thinking about their work that allows for critical reflection on their own successes and disappointments, and on the similarities and differences among their own and other practitioners’ work with different clients. The authors use a novel "common factors" approach, based on the idea that some form of development is the outcome of all effective psychotherapy, despite other differences that may exist. While most existing psychotherapy research focuses on treatment outcomes, primarily in terms of symptom reduction, this book offers an alternative research approach that systematically tracks the psychotherapy process itself, and describes each case’s unique developmental outcome. In particular, Basseches & Mascolo focus on the questions of what kinds of therapeutic resources therapists are offering to their clients and whether and how clients are able to make use of these resources in the service of their own development. The goal is to provide a descriptive framework that can be used to appreciate the highly varied ways in which particular therapists tailor their work to unique clients’ developmental needs, while at the same time offering a prescription of a more rigorous method for recognizing and correcting the problem when a particular therapist’s way of working is not serving the client well. Ideally, this type of process-focused research will complement existing outcome research, and be more likely than further symptom-reduction studies to result in the improvement of overall psychotherapy success rates.

Doing Psychotherapy Effectively

Doing Psychotherapy Effectively
Author: Mona Sue Weissmark
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Total Pages: 190
Release: 2008-04-15
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 0226891690

Psychotherapy is a $2.5 billion business in the United States, but no one can answer the basic question of how therapy works. No watchdog groups rank therapists for potential consumers; no one school of thought has proven to be superior to another. And no method has emerged for determining what makes therapy successful for some but not for others. Doing Psychotherapy Effectively proposes much-needed answers to the puzzling questions of what therapists actually do when they are effective. Mona Sue Weissmark and Daniel A. Giacomo offer a unique mode of evaluation that focuses not on a particular school of therapy but on the relationship between therapist and patient. Their approach, the "Harvard Psychotherapy Coding Method," begins with the assumption that good therapeutic relationships are far from intuitive. Successful relationships follow a pattern of behaviors that can be identified and quantified, as the authors demonstrate through clinical research and videotaped sessions of expert therapists. Likewise, positive changes in the patient, observed through client feedback and case studies, can be described operationally; they involve the process of overcoming feelings of detachment, helplessness, and rigidity and becoming more involved, effective, and adaptable. Weissmark and Giacomo explain and ground these principles in the practice of psychotherapy, making Doing Psychotherapy Effectively an accessible and pragmatic work which will give readers a tool for measuring therapeutic effectiveness and further understanding human transformation. For the first time, successful therapy is described in a way that can be practiced and communicated.

What Is Psychotherapy?

What Is Psychotherapy?
Author: The School of Life
Publisher: School of Life
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2018
Genre: Psychotherapy
ISBN: 9781999747176

An in-depth look at a much misunderstood practice, offering a fresh viewpoint on how this science can be a universally effective route to our better selves.

The Change Process in Psychotherapy During Troubling Times

The Change Process in Psychotherapy During Troubling Times
Author: Sue Wright
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 183
Release: 2021-09-30
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1000450430

The Change Process in Psychotherapy During Troubling Times invites readers to consider what it is psychotherapists do that leads to change. The book highlights different theoretical approaches, questions old paradigms, and illustrates the change process when working with people facing a range of life challenges such as the survivors of childhood trauma, refugees, and people dealing with traumatic loss. Moving between consideration of micro-moments when working with individual clients and bigger questions about how to promote change in the face of current world problems, it addresses issues that touch us all. At the same time, the book acknowledges the unprecedented challenges in today’s world such as the pace of change, the thousands of displaced people who seek refuge in other countries, the illness and loss caused by the coronavirus pandemic, and the impact of climate change on lifestyles and the environment. The book presents a topical consideration of the relevance of therapeutic assumptions, theories, and practices to current global crises. With the breadth of presenting issues considered and the examples of a variety of creative approaches supporting change, the book will be useful to psychotherapists in practice and in training working in a range of settings with different populations. It will also be of interest to others working in the helping professions.

Psychotherapy Process Research

Psychotherapy Process Research
Author: Shake G. Toukmanian
Publisher: SAGE Publications, Incorporated
Total Pages: 288
Release: 1992-06-16
Genre: Medical
ISBN:

This intriguing volume offers the latest developments in psychotherapy process research and suggests implications for clinical practice. It is unique in that equal weight is given to both the paradigmatic and the narrative approaches to explanation. The contributions exemplify relatively "pure" uses of either approach as well as the joint application of each in the same research endeavor. Each mode is seen to be especially suited to explaining a particular aspect of the overall therapeutic process: consequently, the question arises as to whether or not the two approaches can be integrated. At various points throughout the volume, and particularly in the concluding chapter, this question is addressed in terms of the implicit assumption supporting each approach.

Transformative Relationships

Transformative Relationships
Author: George Silberschatz
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 240
Release: 2013-02-01
Genre: Psychology
ISBN: 1135417113

The control-mastery theory, developed by Dr. Joseph Weiss over the second half of the twentieth century, is an attempt to integrate an understanding of how the mind works, how psychopathologies develop, and how psychotherapy can effectively help. Control-Mastery theory assumes that the patient's problems are rooted in the grim, constricting pathogenic beliefs that the patient acquires in the traumatic experiences of childhood. The driving force behind the psychotherapeutic process is the patient's conscious and unconscious desire to recover the capacity to pursue life goals by gaining control and mastering self destructive patterns of thoughts and behaviors. Underlying this theory is the conception that the client structures (both consciously and unconsciously) the psychotherapeutic process in order to clearly and quickly address her own goals. Following this line of thought, the practitioner must be able to identify a client's aims, respond to and encourage these thoughts, and develop a strategic therapeutic plan to effectively address the needs and wants of each individual. This book aims to present the control-mastery theory in a more accessible format, and introduce it to a wider audience, expanding the scope of the theory beyond simply a comparison to Freudian analysis. The text presents an integrated cognitive-psychodynamic-relational approach to therapy, addressing issues surrounding psychopathology and pathogenic constructions. Organized into three distinct sections, the book first considers theoretical underpinnings before moving into in-depth discussions of clinical and practical application of these valuable therapeutic tools and techniques, drawing heavily on detailed descriptions of entire therapy sessions. The final section of the book covers current and developing empirical research, presenting convincing arguments in support of the theory and practice earlier discussed. The editor has extensive research and clinical experience with both the conceptual and practical aspects of the theory, and has worked with Joseph Weiss and Hal Sampson - the two pioneers of the control-mastery approach - who each contributes a chapter to the book. Transformative Relationships advances this integrative approach to therapy beyond its current scope, introducing these valuable concepts and techniques to a wider audience of practitioners of all backgrounds.

Change Process in Psychotherapy

Change Process in Psychotherapy
Author: Boston Change Process Study Group
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages: 264
Release: 2010-04-13
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780393705997

and knowledge, and as a possible way to illuminate change processes in psychotherapy. Today, developmental researchers and neuroscientists increasingly locate keys to psychological health and development in the earliest interactions between mother and infant." "This book, which consists of significant papers by the BCPSG, traces the group's contributions to psychoanalytic topics of note, including; the location of the implicit, the creation of meaning, the moment-by-moment clinical process, and the subjective experience of the therapist. The book also includes new introductions to selected chapters, which provide background on the original intent and reception of each article." --Book Jacket.