Psychotherapy Process
Explore the dynamics and stages of the psychotherapy process, from the initial client assessment to the therapeutic interventions that promote healing. This section provides insights into the complexities of therapeutic relationships and strategies to enhance treatment effectiveness.
257 articles found
Facilitate Memorable Terminations
Facilitate Memorable Terminations with Awareness, Courage and Love Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), a contemporary contextual behavioral therapy grounded in empirically supported principles, harnesses the power of the therapeutic relationship and maximizes the therapist’s genuineness, compassion and effectiveness. FAP focuses on how therapists can notice and respond effectively to client daily-life problems when they also occur […]
Holly Yates, M.S., LPC + 3 more
July 30, 2017
Addressing and Managing Resistance with Internalizing Clients
Sigmund Freud originally described psychological resistance as a phenomenon wherein patients unconsciously “cling to their disease” through “tenacious” and “critical objections” in order to repress distressing thoughts, emotions and experiences as they are raised by the therapist (Freud, 1904; 1920; 1940). This understanding—a somewhat patronizing view that pitted expert doctor against oblivious patient—persisted in the […]
Sara Beth Austin, M.A. + 1 more
June 18, 2017
Ending Therapy
Termination of the Therapy Relationship As with all relationships, a therapeutic relationship has a beginning and an end. The end of a therapeutic relationship often offers an opportunity for the therapist and client to engage in the termination process, which can include looking back on the course of treatment, helping the client plan ahead and […]
Avantika Bhatia, Ph.D.
June 11, 2017
In Therapy, You Must Engage the Child in the Child’s World
Henry Kronengold (2017) invites readers to experience with him a “curious space” of relational connections, playfulness, symbols, and metaphors that characterize psychotherapy with children and adolescents. What is it like for both client and therapist as they tentatively begin a therapeutic relationship, find common channels of communication, solve problems, and make sense of life’s experiences? […]
John W. Seymour, Ph.D., LMFT
April 7, 2017
Expert Pantheoretical Advice for Psychotherapy Termination
Psychotherapy research has made significant strides over many decades in identifying treatment ingredients that bode well for a successful outcome (Greenberg, 2016; Lambert, 2013; Norcross, 2011). Yet, relatively little empirical evidence or transtheoretical consensus has been produced about the closing moves in effective terminations. Instead, attention has more frequently been turned to the problem of […]
Roger P. Greenberg, Ph.D. + 2 more
March 19, 2017
Fostering Engagement During Termination
Abstract Therapists often struggle to determine the most important things to focus on during termination. Reviewing the treatment, identifying plans for the future, summarizing positive gains, and saying goodbye receive the most attention. Despite our best intentions, termination can end up becoming intellectualized. Attachment theory and recent developments in neuroscience offer us a road map […]
Cheri L. Marmarosh, Ph.D., ABPP, CGP
March 12, 2017
Framing Treatment Goals with Clients
One of the primary goals of most forms of psychotherapy is to reduce the suffering or distress that clients experience. However, various orientations often differ in how they frame that goal – some focusing more on symptom reduction, others on insight, and still others on personal growth. Clients may also differ in the way that […]
Jake Park, Ph.D.
March 5, 2017
Explaining Therapeutic Change in Residential Wilderness Therapy Groups
Residential wilderness therapy or adventure therapy is “the prescriptive use of adventure experiences provided by mental health professionals, often conducted in natural settings that kinesthetically engage clients on cognitive, affective, and behavioral levels.” (Gass, Gillis & Russell, 2012 p.1). The term adventure therapy is used in the literature interchangeably with “wilderness therapy” (Russell, 2001) and […]
Harold L. (Lee) Gillis, Ph.D. + 1 more
February 26, 2017
Noticing Therapeutic Novelty
Many children participate in the classic science project of nurturing a seedling in a Dixie cup and observing the ensuing course of germination. The child’s primary job is to exercise patience with the process, punctuated by subtle manipulation of the seedling’s environment to ensure ideal growth conditions. Hopefully, in time, the seedling pokes out of […]
Melissa A. Smigelsky, M.A., M.S.
February 19, 2017
Is Psychotherapy Integration Always Beneficial?
Evidence-based practice in psychology has been defined as the integration of the best available research, clinical expertise, and the individual client’s characteristics, values, and preferences (APA, 2006). This definition suggests that psychotherapists should be able, and willing, to integrate techniques from different theoretical orientations based on the context. Although integration is important, it is also […]
Joshua K. Swift, Ph.D.
January 29, 2017
Cross-Training Your Therapeutic Ear Through Hip Hop
Clinical Notes with Dr. J …Initially rap was America’s informal CNN because when Rap records came out somebody from far away could listen to a Rap record because it uses so many descriptive words and get a visual picture from what was being said…Rap is now a worldwide phenomenon. Rap is the CNN for young […]
Jonathan Jenkins, Psy.D.
January 25, 2017
Working with Transfer Clients
It is ironic that while most therapists champion the role of the therapeutic relationship in the success of therapy, there has been little research on how the transfer process and prior therapy relationships may have an impact on the therapeutic relationship. Clients are often transferred from one therapist to another in clinics when therapists-in-training leave […]
Barbara J. Thompson, Ph.D. + 1 more
December 31, 2016