Edward Shoben, Jr.: Overlooked pioneer of psychotherapy integration.

In 1949, a year before Dollard and Miller (1950) published their milestone of psychotherapy integration, Edward Shoben, Jr., published a lesser-known, but no less groundbreaking, learning theory analysis of the psychotherapy process (see record 1950-01904-001). By doing so, he challenged the therapists of his day to reconsider the mutative factors in psychotherapy. He was largely ignored by practitioners but was influential in the development of behavior therapy. By bridging the substantial gap separating the academic learning theorists and predominantly psychoanalytic practitioners of his day and seeking out common mutative factors, Shoben was a true pioneer of psychotherapy integration. This article explores his contribution with particular emphasis on the importance of his ideas and their influence on current practices. In addition, criticisms of his approach as well as theoretical and political factors that may have contributed to his relative obscurity are considered. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A developmental model for teaching and learning in psychotherapy supervision.

Contends that supervision of psychotherapy is a complicated responsibility because the supervisor's commitment is divided between supporting the growth of the student and protecting the welfare of the client. The phenomenon of the treatment relationship can be obscured by parallel processes in the supervision. A model based on a set of developmental crises that reflect stages of learning and maturation in therapist growth is proposed. Crises in learning psychotherapy include (1) the demand for wide-ranging tolerance of ambiguity, (2) recognition and acceptance of the limits of one's capacity to offer therapeutic conditions, (3) the discovery of therapy as deep communication, and (4) the emergence of a conceptual set in which a variety of models of therapeutic intervention are related to the needs of varying patients. It is suggested that the behavior of the supervisor in dealing with problems in supervised psychotherapy is the real modeling. (24 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A model for teaching psychotherapy theory through an integrative structure.

This article discusses a model for teaching psychotherapy theory through an integrative structure from the start of graduate students' training. This model articulates an ordering structure for the reputed 400+ so-called "theories" of psychotherapy. The rationale for such a structure highlights one dimension among several--that is, the recognition that a vast majority of mental health practitioners describe their orientation as eclectic or integrative. Professionals in training are encouraged to use this structure as an organizing principle to create the underpinnings for future professional development. The structure informs all aspects of a graduate-level course, including its syllabus, the textbooks selected, the reader, learning objectives, and tools for learning outcome assessment. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The use of modeling and role playing to increase social interaction among asocial psychiatric patients.

Studied 87 psychiatric inpatients, all of whom consistently displayed minimal social interaction behavior, in a 2 * 2 * 2 covariance design involving 3 treatment variables. The major variable was presence vs absence of structured learning therapy (modeling plus role playing plus social reinforcement) aimed at increasing social interaction behavior. Presence vs absence of psychotherapy and patient status (acute-chronic) were also examined. Several significant main and interaction effects emerged on social interaction criteria for structured learning therapy. Interaction effects for structured learning therapy and psychotherapy suggested primarily a "mutual inhibition" of treatment effectiveness. Implications for further studies of structured learning therapy and specific skill enhancement are examined. (34 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A meta-analysis of psychotherapy and drug therapy in the treatment of unipolar depression with adults.

Conducted a meta-analysis of 56 outcome studies of psychotherapy and drug therapy in the treatment of unipolar depression in adults. Five types of psychotherapy were examined: behavioral; social learning-interpersonal; cognitive; a combination of cognitive, social learning, and behavioral; and marital. 35 types of drug therapy were examined; the 2 most common were imipramine and amitriptyline. Findings suggest that psychotherapy (mean effect size 1.22) was superior to drug therapy (mean effect size .61) in treating unipolar depression. This finding is discussed in relation to the relative strengths and weaknesses of narrative vs qualitative approaches to synthesizing the findings of many studies. (20 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of psychotherapy supervision.

Reviews the book, Handbook of psychotherapy supervision by C. Edward Watkins Jr. (see record 1997-08923-000). This book offers a forum for some of the most influential thinkers of our time to discuss what is probably the most critical aspect of learning how to become a therapist: clinical supervision. The book is well organized, comprehensive, and informative. In it, the elusive nature of teaching how to conduct psychotherapy is explored and clarified from a variety of perspectives and across myriad contexts. Overall, the book provides a wealth of information in an organized and readable fashion. Nonetheless, the topics explored include some areas that were not covered adequately. For example, the book would have been further enhanced had the subject of supervisory failures been given more attention, as we know that learning from past errors often provides the most valuable teaching opportunities. Despite a few minor criticisms, the book serves as a wonderful reference for practitioners, students, and teachers of psychotherapy. While extremely useful for the beginning supervisor, the book is also a valuable resource for seasoned supervisors who wish to expand or challenge their ways of thinking about supervision. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Toward a unified conceptual framework of psychotherapy.

The increase in theoretical redundancy and the fact that all theories of psychotherapy possess weaknesses as well as strengths suggest that the time may be ripe for the emergence of a unified theory of psychotherapy. Three questions are addressed that are prerequisite to the development of a unified conceptual framework in psychotherapy: (1) What is the current state of the field of psychotherapy integration? (2) How do we move toward a unified theory of psychotherapy? and (3) What must a unified psychotherapy theory include? Unification is merely the next step in the evolution of psychotherapy theory, which is expected to oscillate between stages of unification and differentiation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Shame and guilt in psychotherapy supervision.

Examines the vulnerability to shame and humiliation of clinical trainees, particularly as it emerges in the course of psychotherapy supervision. It is contended that shame in supervision is generated from 4 major contributing factors: (1) the learning regression, (2) the patient population, (3) the supervisor's management of the supervisory hour, and (4) transference and countertransference in supervision. Suggestions are given for reducing the shame that might compromise the professional well-being of neophyte clinicians and their supervisors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of The integration of psychotherapies.

Reviews the book, The integration of psychotherapies by Alvin R. Mahrer with a Foreword by John C. Norcross (see record 1989-97512-000). Mahrer has written the book for those who are learning, teaching, supervising, and trying to integrate psychotherapies. In the book he is trying to answer the following questions: What are the various strategies that are used for integrating psychotherapies? How do the several strategies fare comparatively in their feasibility, workability, and chances for success in integrating psychotherapies? What are the likely consequences for the field of psychotherapy of pursuing each of the strategies? Is integration good or bad for the field of psychotherapy? On the basis of his study of the various strategies for integrating psychotherapies, what recommendations are warranted? This book is a valuable intellectual contribution to the development of theory in psychotherapy. The process of attempting to integrate psychotherapies is inevitable, and by producing this thoughtful and scholarly work Mahrer has helped to raise the quality of the integration effort. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

True and false self in the development of the psychotherapist.

Explored the psychotherapist's struggle to achieve a position of security, using interviews with 15 doctoral students in clinical psychology who described their experiences of learning to do psychotherapy and the development of their identities as psychotherapists. Areas of experience within the psychotherapy training context and also in Ss' personal lives were considered. During the course of their training, Ss were seen to develop self-protective competencies, which are conceptualized in terms of the theory of the true self and the false self developed by D. W. Winnicott (1965). The psychotherapist false self is linked to commonly used terms such as professional identity and identity as a psychotherapist. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A psychodynamicist looks at modern behavior therapy.

Discusses the growing rapproachement between psychotherapy based on psychodynamic principles and behavior therapy. Both, in the final analysis, are concerned with the elucidation of the psychological processes by which personality and behavior change is brought about. The present article delineates areas of convergence, with special reference to the "treatment package," patient variables, and the therapeutic interaction. It is concluded that psychotherapy of all varieties is made up of learning, unlearning, and relearning experiences that can be mediated in different ways and that the task of the future is to spell out the conditions that promote or impede such learning. (15 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Anxiety, conflict, and resistance in learning an integrative perspective on psychotherapy.

Learning to do psychotherapy is emotionally difficult as well as cognitively challenging. This article addresses some of the intrapsychic conflicts with which beginning therapists are faced and points out some of the ways that novices cope by identifying with psychotherapeutic schools and "heroes." The added emotional burdens of learning an integrated approach are discussed, as are some solutions to these conflicts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Treating chronic depression with disciplined personal involvement: Cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP).

Reviews the book, Treating chronic depression with disciplined personal involvement: Cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) by James P. McCullough Jr. (see record 2006-11486-000). The premise of this book is that therapeutic neutrality does not apply to the psychotherapy of chronically depressed individuals, and that disciplined personal involvement is an efficacious and perhaps necessary component of their treatment. Cognitive behavioral analysis system of psychotherapy (CBASP) is a learning model, in which the therapist focuses on teaching patients to recognize the consequences of their behavior. McCullough addresses practical and theoretical objections to this therapeutic approach, which include fears of overinvolvement, and inappropriate behavior, and clinical risks of flooding patients with excessively personal information and content. Ultimately, most readers will finish reading this volume with many open questions, some specific to McCullough's approach, others related to the challenging condition of chronic depression itself. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of chlorpromazine on learning.

Learning is an essential part of behavior therapies and is an important requirement of more traditional psychotherapy. The widespread use of tranquilizing drugs in psychiatric settings prompts a review of their effects on learning. Chlorpromazine is perhaps the most widely investigated tranquilizing drug and is used as a referent in the assessment of its effect on learning. Results of studies involving a number of animals, normal Ss, and psychiatric patients tend to show significant declines in learning on a wide range of tasks, with a linear decline in learning with increased dosage levels. A number of methodological difficulties which limit generalizations are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Training for managed care settings: How to make it happen.

Discusses the importance of and resistances to the training of experienced therapists in brief approaches to psychotherapy. Ways are examined of providing such training to psychotherapists who are working in systems where brief treatment is essential. Three principles of adult learning are described (e.g., adults want to apply their new learning immediately) to highlight the important relation between those principles and the training strategies implemented in the program. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The functional autonomy of psychotherapy.

Psychotherapy's initial function was to provide a service to troubled people who asked for help. Later evidence of its efficacy was unimpressive, but the method did not die out. "Psychotherapy had, it appeared, achieved functional autonomy." Various criticisms of the value of psychotherapy have been controverted. The efficacy of psychotherapy is not considered in the American Psychological Association ethical principles. Chapters on psychotherapy in the Annual Review of Psychology from 1955 to 1960 dismiss the question of efficacy. Experts are convinced that psychotherapy works. We "can be sure that the principle of functional autonomy will permit psychotherapy to survive long after it has outlived its usefulness as a personality laboratory." From Psyc Abstracts 36:02:2IE75A. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The therapist-as-fixed-effect fallacy in psychotherapy research.

Studies of psychotherapy involve sampling 2 sets of Ss from 2 populations: patients and therapists. Conclusions about psychotherapy should thus be based on statistical evidence that results are reliable across both patients and therapists. In most published research concerning psychotherapy, no statistical evidence is provided that findings can be generalized beyond the particular sample of therapists studied. In spite of this, researchers tend to draw conclusions concerning psychotherapy and therapists in general. ANOVA designs that allow generalization of results across both therapists and patients are described. The serious problems with inappropriate analyses of variance—treating therapists as a fixed effect or ignoring the therapist factor altogether—are discussed. A review of recently published studies of psychotherapy reveals that most researchers have done one or the other of these inappropriate analyses. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Psychotherapy as a problem in learning theory.

This reprinted article originally appeared in Psychological Bulletin, 46, 366–302. (The following abstract of the original article appeared in record 1950-01904-001.) A learning theory interpretation of psychotherapy is offered "to effect a rapprochement between psychotherapy and general psychology, and to organize some of the phenomena of clinical practice within the framework of systematic behavior theory." 66-item bibliography. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)