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.

Bad Therapy offers a rare glimpse into the hearts and mind's of the profession's most famous authors, thinkers, and leaders when things aren't going so well. Jeffrey Kottler and Jon Carlson, who include their own therapy mishaps, interview twenty of the world's most famous practitioners who discuss their mistakes, misjudgements, and miscalculations on working with clients. Told through narratives, the failures are related with candor to expose the human side of leading therapists. Each therapist shares with regrets, what they learned from the experience, what others can learn from their mistakes, and the benefits of speaking openly about bad therapy.

How Master Therapists Work engages the reader in experiencing what really happens in therapy with master therapists: who they are, what they do, and how they bring about significant change in clients. It examines one master therapist’s actual six-session therapy (also available on DVD) that transformed a client’s life, resulting in changes that have been sustained for more than seven years. Session transcriptions directly involve the reader in every aspect of the therapeutic change process. This is followed by the commentary of a master therapist-psychotherapy researcher who explains how these changes were effected from a psychotherapy research perspective. Next, the master therapist who effected these changes explains what he was thinking and why he did what he did at key points in the therapy process. Then, the client shares her thoughts on this life changing therapeutic experience. This is a must have, one-of-a-kind book that will greatly enhance the therapeutic understanding and skills of both practicing therapists and therapists-in-training.

Learn from master therapists and bring your skills to the next level Bringing a breath of fresh air to the therapy profession, this compelling and thoughtful resource urges readers to move from competency to full mastery in the mental health field. Combining the findings of hundreds of previous studies, interviews with a wide range of master therapists, own unique experiences and perspectives, Jeffery A. Kottler and Jon Carlson have devised a guide that takes therapists out of their comfort zones. Professionals in the fields of psychology, counseling, social work, and human services, as well as graduate students studying for these professions, will find a level of honesty and candor in this resource, which tackles a range of essential topics in a frank, personal tone, and closes with a meaningful discussion about the challenges of striving for mastery. Master therapists and authors Kottler and Carlson explore a range of hot-button topics, such as: Cultural misunderstandings Disliking your clients (or having clients dislike you) Receiving negative feedback from clients Injecting creativity into the therapeutic process Finding time for social justice and advocacy On Being a Master Therapist provides a much-needed look at a range of topics that aren't often given such genuine and insightful treatment, with the goal of helping you attain the attributes that truly distinguish excellence in clinical practice. Start on your journey toward mastery with this thoughtful resource.

The effort to surmount shame and formidable defenses in psychotherapy can trigger shame and self-doubt in therapists. Susan Warren Warshow offers a user-friendly-guide to help therapists move past common treatment barriers. This unique book avoids jargon and breaks down complex concepts into digestible elements for practical application. The core principles of Dynamic Emotional Focused Therapy (DEFT), a comprehensive treatment approach for demonstrable change, are illustrated with rich and abundant clinical vignettes. This engaging, often lyrical handbook emphasizes "shame-sensitivity" to create the safety necessary to achieve profound interpersonal connection. Often overlooked in treatment, shame can undermine the entire process. The author explains the "therapeutic transfer of compassion for self," a relational phenomenon that purposefully generates affective expression. She introduces a three-step, robust framework, The Healing Triad, to orient therapists to intervene effectively when the winds of resistance arise. Chapters clarify: Why we focus on feelings How to identify and move beyond shame and anxiety How to transform toxic guilt into reparative actions How to disarm defenses while avoiding ruptures This book is essential reading for both advanced and newly practicing mental health practitioners striving to access the profound emotions in their clients for transformative change.

Reflecting the new and exciting trends in psychotherapy as well as responsive to the current emphasis on efficient, substantial therapeutic results, this book presents a model of interpersonal, short_term psychotherapy for clinically depressed patients. Gerald L. Klerman, whose research on depression has made him world renowned, and Myrna M. Weissman, who has written, with Eugene Paykel, an important book on women and depression, have worked with their colleagues to present the empirical basis for their new treatment method. This theory builds on the heritage of Harry Stack Sullivan and John Bowlby and their focus on interpersonal issues and attachment on depression. Research shows that four categories of interpersonal difficulties predominate: grief, interpersonal disputes, role transitions. and interpersonal deficits. In this approach, the therapist focuses on the patient's primary problems and evaluates the need for medication in addition to interpersonal therapy. Acknowledging that these four areas are never mutually exclusive, the authors present a clear treatment strategy for each, augmenting their presentation with a discussion of common obstacles that arise during treatment. As an overview, the book compares interpersonal psychotherapy with other psychotherapies for depression. Summaries of research documenting the efficacy of interpersonal psychotherapy are given.The authors outline the theoretical basis for an interpersonal approach, and apply it to depression. The following sections detail how to conduct interpersonal psychotherapy, supplying case vignettes to illustrate particular problems. Finally, the authors explore combining interpersonal psychotherapy with pharmacotherapy.

In this book, qualitative studies on psychotherapy expertise from the U.S.A., Canada, Singapore, Japan, Korea, Portugal, and the Czech Republic are compiled and synthesized. Understanding the universal characteristics of expert therapists practicing around the world provides training programs and mental health practitioners with a heuristic for optimal therapist and counselor development.

Illustrated with case studies, this book teaches couples and sex therapists the comprehensive, integrative treatment approach of master conflict therapy (MCT), which combines psychoanalytic conflict theory and Bowen Theory with the basic principles and practice of sex therapy. MCT suggests that each partner has an internal conflict born out of their experiences from their respective families of origin. Partners then choose one another based on these conflicts, and it is only when they are out of balance that the couple experiences symptoms. The authors help clinicians treat couples through providing them with a solid theoretical foundation, a practical assessment procedure, and highly effective treatment techniques to re-balance a couple and, in turn, alleviate their sexual symptoms.

With more questions and answers than any other edition, the Encyclopedia of Counseling, Fourth Edition, is still the only book you need to pass the NCE, CPCE, and other counseling exams. Every chapter has new and updated material and is still written in Dr. Rosenthal's lively, user-friendly style counselors know and love. The book’s new and improved coverage incorporates a range of vital topics, including social media, group work in career counseling, private practice and nonprofit work, addictions, neurocounseling, research trends, the DSM-5, the new ACA and NBCC codes of ethics, and much, much more.

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.