This book identifies which characteristics make therapists more or less effective in their work and proposes guidelines to improve their effectiveness.

In this 10th Anniversary text, Thomas M. Skovholt and Len Jennings paint an elaborate portrait of expert or "master" therapists. The book contains extensive qualitative research from three doctoral dissertations and an additional research study conducted over a seven-year period on the same ten master therapists. This intensive research project on master therapists, those considered the "best of the best" by their colleagues, is the most extensive research on high-level functioning of mental health professionals ever done. Therapists and counselors can use the insights gained from this book as potential guidelines for use in their own professional development. Furthermore, training programs may adopt it in an effort to develop desirable characteristics in their trainees. Featuring a brand new Preface and Epilogue, this 10th Anniversary Edition of Master Therapists revisits a landmark text in the field of counseling and therapy.

What is it that makes some therapists so much more effective than others, even when they are delivering the same evidence-based treatment? This instructive book identifies specific interpersonal skills and attitudes--often overlooked in clinical training--that facilitate better client outcomes across a broad range of treatment methods and contexts. Reviewing 70 years of psychotherapy research, the preeminent authors show that empathy, acceptance, warmth, focus, and other characteristics of effective therapists are both measurable and teachable. Richly illustrated with annotated sample dialogues, the book gives practitioners and students a blueprint for learning, practicing, and self-monitoring these crucial clinical skills.

The second edition of The Great Psychotherapy Debate has been updated and revised to expand the presentation of the Contextual Model, which is derived from a scientific understanding of how humans heal in a social context and explains findings from a vast array of psychotherapies studies. This model provides a compelling alternative to traditional research on psychotherapy, which tends to focus on identifying the most effective treatment for particular disorders through emphasizing the specific ingredients of treatment. The new edition also includes a history of healing practices, medicine, and psychotherapy, an examination of therapist effects, and a thorough review of the research on common factors such as the alliance, expectations, and empathy.

Principles of Change constitutes a new approach to evidence-based practice in psychotherapy that goes beyond the traditional and unidirectional dissemination of research, whereby clinicians are typically viewed as passive recipients of scientific findings. Based on an extensive review of literature, it first offers a list of 38 empirically based principles of change grouped in five categories: client prognostic, treatment/provider moderating, client process, therapeutic relationship, and therapist interventions. Six therapists from diverse theoretical orientations then describe, in rich and insightful detail, how they implement each of these principles. The book also offers exchanges between researchers and clinicians on several key issues, including: how similarly and differently change principles are addressed or used across a variety of treatments; and how clinicians' observations and reflections can guide future research. By presenting together these unique yet complementary experiences, Principles of Change will support synergetic advances in understanding and improving psychotherapy, laying the foundation for further collaborations and partnerships between stakeholders in mental health services.

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.

Is it possible to effect deep, lasting, meaningful psychological change in a short period of time?

All therapists at some time or other are confronted with cases that do not fit the assumptions of their chosen theoretical model--clients who should get better do not, while others improve for reasons the model does not explain. One lesson that can (and should) be drawn from such cases is that the client's perception of the therapist's behavior and of the intervention process is a powerful factor in therapeutic success or failure. These relationship factors account for a significant proportion of change in psychotherapy, yet little has been written about how to utilize them. Filling a gap in the literature, this book presents a pragmatic application of these simple but difficult experiential lessons to the practice of individual, couple, and family therapy. When should a therapist shift gears? And how is it done? CHANGING THE RULES presents a flexible methodology for practice that encourages clinicians to utilize their clients' interpretations in constructing more effective interventions. Providing a developmental and empirical context for the approach, the book covers the initial interview and the selection, design, and delivery of interventions, as well as issues such as ethics and gender bias. Several case examples and two full-length studies demonstrate each stage of the therapeutic process, fully illustrating the approach and enabling the creative therapist to replicate it in practice. Proposing a coherent framework for practice that empowers relationship effects, enhances therapist flexibility, and expands the repertoire of intervention strategies for working with individuals, couples, and families, this volume is an invaluable resource for clinicians, academicians, and students regardless of theoretical orientation.

A master of family therapy, Salvador Minuchin, traces for the first time the minute operations of day-to-day practice. Dr. Minuchin has achieved renown for his theoretical breakthroughs and his success at treatment. Now he explains in close detail those precise and difficult maneuvers that constitute his art. The book thus codifies the method of one of the country's most successful practitioners.