Choosing Therapy


Book Description

Like any decision that we make in life, making the choice to seek therapy involves mastering a large body of knowledge, sifting through the thousands of therapists in the field and finding the right one, understanding different psychological approaches to counseling and what might work best for any one person, learning a variety of skills on how to be in therapy, and exploring one’s most inner self with a complete stranger. Most people are unfortunately stuck navigating this difficult process on their own, leaving a lot of things up to chance. Choosing Therapy acknowledges these difficulties and offers readers the tools they’ll need to choose the right therapist, set their goals for therapy, and understand the benefits and outcomes available to them through the various approaches therapists take. When entering therapy,individuals may not be armed with the information they need in order to make progress and see results. Many stop therapy if they don’t feel they are getting anything out of it; others stop if they feel they are being treated differently by others who know they are in therapy. In Choosing Therapy, Ilyana Romanovsky clearly defines various psychological approaches therapists take, the different types of therapies available including long terms versus short term and group versus individual therapy, and ways of overcoming stigma associated with being in counseling. She discusses various psychotherapeutic medications and other questions patients might have about the ways they might address the issues they experience. Helping readers to define goals, understand treatment options, and prepare to do the work of therapy, Romanovsky offers a clear roadmap to those new to treatment, to those returning to treatment, and to those helping others to seek treatment.







What Is Psychotherapy?


Book Description

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.




Marriage Meetings for Lasting Love


Book Description

Most couples — because they watch so many of their peers divorce and are themselves the products of failed marriages — don't have many successful long-term-relationship role models. Parenting and communication issues are perennial, while some challenges, like increasingly 24-7 work lives and economic hardships, mark the current decade. Despite all this, psychotherapist and clinical social worker Marcia Naomi Berger asserts that most couples can make love last — they just need to learn how. Berger answers this need with a deceptively simple prescription: have an interruption-free thirty-minute (or even shorter) meeting each week and follow an agenda that includes the kind of appreciation and planning for fun that foster intimacy and pave the way for collaborative conflict resolution. Berger has refined these techniques while working with hundreds of couples — with results that are both practical and profound.




Becoming a Therapist


Book Description

Revised and expanded for the digital age, this trusted guidebook and text helps novice psychotherapists of any orientation bridge the gap between coursework and clinical practice. It offers a window into what works and what doesn't work in interactions with patients, the ins and outs of the therapeutic relationship, and how to manage common clinical dilemmas. Featuring rich case examples, the book speaks directly to the questions, concerns, and insecurities of novice clinicians. Reproducible forms to aid in treatment planning can be downloaded and printed in a convenient 8 1/2" x 11" size. New to This Edition *Reflects two decades of technological changes--covers how to develop email and texting policies, navigate social media, use electronic medical records, and optimize teletherapy. *New chapters on professional development and on managing the impact of therapist life events (pregnancy and parental leave, vacations, medical issues). *Instructive discussion of systemic racism, cultural humility, and implicit bias. *Significantly revised chapter on substance use disorders, with a focus on motivational interviewing techniques. *Reproducible/downloadable Therapist Tools.




Why Therapists Choose to Become Therapists


Book Description

Almost two decades ago, the psychoanalyst Sussman concluded that the therapist's motivation for practicing was a neglected area. Is this maybe a question best left alone? This book revisits the question. The authors support Sussman's rationale for raising the issue in the first place and wonder if much has changed since he referred to it as a 'neglected' area twenty years ago? This is an inquiry that moves from personal musing to collaborative and systematic inquiry. At the heart of the book lie six separate accounts as told by counsellors and psychotherapists in a reflective writing- and peer support group. Each therapist represent a different modality and all come with very different backgrounds. These accounts are put into context of ongoing literature and viewed with reference to a survey where 238 other therapists provide their perspective on the question. Like in the case of, for instance, Feltham (1999), Rowan & Jacobs (2003) and Val Wosket (1999) 'the therapist's use of self', is a key theme.




Making of a Therapist


Book Description

Lessons from the personal experience and reflections of a therapist. The difficulty and cost of training psychotherapists properly is well known. It is far easier to provide a series of classes while ignoring the more challenging personal components of training. Despite the fact that the therapist's self-insight, emotional maturity, and calm centeredness are critical for successful psychotherapy, rote knowledge and technical skills are the focus of most training programs. As a result, the therapist's personal growth is either marginalized or ignored. The Making of a Therapist counters this trend by offering graduate students and beginning therapists a personal account of this important inner journey. Cozolino provides a unique look inside the mind and heart of an experienced therapist. Readers will find an exciting and privileged window into the experience of the therapist who, like themselves, is just starting out. In addition, The Making of a Therapist contains the practical advice, common-sense wisdom, and self-disclosure that practicing professionals have found to be the most helpful during their own training.The first part of the book, 'Getting Through Your First Sessions,' takes readers through the often-perilous days and weeks of conducting initial sessions with real clients. Cozolino addresses such basic concerns as: Do I need to be completely healthy myself before I can help others? What do I do if someone comes to me with an issue or problem I can't handle? What should I do if I have trouble listening to my clients? What if a client scares me?The second section of the book, 'Getting to Know Your Clients,' delves into the routine of therapy and the subsequent stages in which you continue to work with clients and help them. In this context, Cozolino presents the notion of the 'good enough' therapist, one who can surrender to his or her own imperfections while still guiding the therapeutic relationship to a positive outcome. The final section, 'Getting to Know Yourself,' goes to the core of the therapist's relation to him- or herself, addressing such issues as: How to turn your weaknesses into strengths, and how to deal with the complicated issues of pathological caretaking, countertransference, and self-care.Both an excellent introduction to the field as well as a valuable refresher for the experienced clinician, The Making of a Therapist offers readers the tools and insight that make the journey of becoming a therapist a rich and rewarding experience.




The Good Psychologist


Book Description

"Noam Shpancer portrays the oft-hidden world of psychotherapy with unparalleled authenticity, compassion, and wit . . . An astonishing debut."—Jonathan Kellerman Noam Shpancer's stunning debut novel opens as a psychologist reluctantly takes on a new client—an exotic dancer whose severe anxiety is keeping her from the stage. The psychologist, a solitary professional who also teaches a lively night class, helps the client confront her fears. But as treatment unfolds, her struggles and secrets begin to radiate onto his life, upsetting the precarious balance in his unresolved relationship with Nina, a married former colleague with whom he has a child—a child he has never met. As the shell of his detachment begins to crack, he suddenly finds himself too deeply involved, the boundary lines between professional and personal, between help and harm, blurring dangerously. With its wonderfully distinctive narrative voice, rich with humor and humanity, The Good Psychologist leads the reader on a journey into the heart of the therapy process and beyond, examining some of the fundamental questions of the soul: to move or be still; to defy or obey; to let go or hold on.




How to Survive as a Psychotherapist


Book Description

Nina Coltart's classic work, How to Survive as a Psychotherapist, was written over a quarter of a century ago and yet still resonates today with sage advice for the aspiring and established psychotherapist. This reissue contains a new Foreword from celebrated psychoanalyst David E. Scharff and an updated Further Reading section. Not simply a "how to" manual, this compact book is an amalgam of down-to-earth practicality about assessment, the pleasures of psychotherapy as opposed to analysis, details of how to run a practice, vivid clinical stories which don't necessarily turn out well, discussions of Buddhism, and an autobiographical finale on the balance between life and work, including Coltart's choice to live alone. Written in deceptively simple language, it reads easily and encourages beginners, but its backbone is the accrued wisdom for a career containing "survival-with-enjoyment" that offers new perspectives to both mid-career and experienced therapists and teachers. The professional autobiographical quality of the book reveals a lot about Coltart: her love of psychotherapy over full analysis and the number of strictures in analysis that she feels bind rather than guide. She describes the first years, in training and beyond, as full of anxiety: trying to get things right whilst an inner critical voice and the judgement of supervisors and teachers hangs over it all. Slowly, as time goes by, the ability to relax into a career with confidence in one's own voice, knowledge, and intuition leads to a capacity for enjoyment of what can seem to outsiders a grim profession dealing only with suffering. Coltart's book celebrates psychotherapy and its practitioners, and is full of interesting and practical advice that both experienced and novice psychotherapists will find invaluable. This enduring classic has stood the test of time and should be a feature of every aficionado's bookshelf.




Therapy's Best


Book Description

Insightful interviews with a Who’s Who of the world’s foremost therapists Therapy’s Best is a lively and entertaining collection of one-on-one interviews with some of the top therapists and counselors in the world. Educator and psychotherapist Dr. Howard G. Rosenthal talks with twenty of therapy’s legends, including Albert Ellis, arguably the greatest clinical psychologist and therapist of our time; assertiveness training pioneer Robert Alberti; experiential psychotherapist Al Mahrer; and William Glasser, the father of reality therapy and choice theory. Each interview reveals insights into the therapists’ personal lives, their observations on counseling, and the helping profession in general, and their thoughts on what really works when dealing with clients in need. The interviews found in Therapy’s Best uncover treatment strategies that are often missing from traditional textbooks, journal articles, courses, and seminars related to assertiveness training, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), marriage and family counseling, transactional analysis, psychoanalysis, suicide prevention, voice therapy, experiential psychotherapy, and Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT). Conversations with the best and brightest (including two recipients of the American Psychological Association’s Division of Psychotherapy’s Living Legends award) reveal why these therapists are such effective helpers, what makes their theories so popular, and most important, what makes them tick. This unique book lets you rub elbows with these consummate professionals and learn more about their theories, ideas, and experiences. Therapy’s Best includes interviews with: Dr. Albert Elliscreator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and APA Division of Psychotherapy Living Legend Dr. Edwin Schneidmanthe foremost expert on suicide prevention, suicidology, and thanatology Richard Nelson Bollesauthor of What Color Is Your Parachute? Dr. Dorothy and Dr. Ray Bevcarhusband and wife therapists who write textbooks on marriage counseling Dr. Al Mahrerfather of experiential psychotherapy and APA Division of Psychotherapy Living Legend Les Greenbergfather of Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) Muriel Jamesco-author of Born to Win and many more! Therapy’s Best is a must read for professionals who practice counseling and psychotherapy, students preparing to do likewise, and anyone else with an interest in therapyand the people with provide it.