Review of Words were originally magic.

Reviews the book, Words were originally magic by Steve de Shazer (see record 1994-97917-000). This book is written from both a philosophical and clinical perspective. It deals with the importance of language in psychotherapy. The author sets the foundation relative to language structure, meaning, and therapeutic change modalities in preparation for the discussion of brief problem focused psychotherapy. Case examples from actual therapy sessions are then presented in illustration of therapy process and outcome. The reviewer believes that this book has significant relevancy for current practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Emotional processing in vocal and written expression of feelings about traumatic experiences

The purpose of this study was to compare vocal and written expression of feeling about interpersonal traumatic and trivial events in 20-min sessions over a 4-day period. Similar emotional processing was produced by vocal and written expression of feeling about traumatic events. The painfulness of the topic decreased steadily over the 4 days. At the end, both groups felt better about their topics and themselves and also reported positive cognitive changes. A content analysis of the sessions suggested greater overt expression of emotion and related changes in the vocal condition. Finally, there was an upsurge in negative emotion after each session of either vocal or written expression. These results suggest that previous findings that psychotherapy ameliorated this negative mood upsurge could not be attributed to the vocal character of psychotherapy.     

Length of psychotherapy for clients seen in private practice.

Length of treatment for all clients (N?=?100) seen for psychotherapy during 1975 by 7 therapists in a private practice psychological clinic was examined to determine the relative frequency of long-term (>25 sessions) vs short-term (≤25 sessions) psychotherapy. Clients were young, middle class, intelligent, and mildly to moderately disturbed. The median length of treatment was 8 sessions. Fully 80% of the clients had left treatment before receiving 25 sessions. This finding mirrors the trend for public treatment settings. Results reaffirm the necessity of further research and development of short-term treatment techniques designed to effectively utilize the brief time even private clients spend in psychotherapy. (9 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Diversity within African American, female therapists: Variability in clients' expectations and assumptions about the therapist.

Despite the presence of some literature that has addressed the characteristics of the African American female therapist, most psychotherapy training proceeds with the assumption that therapists are members of dominant groups, and most of the psychological and psychotherapy literature has been written by therapists and psychologists who come from dominant cultural perspectives. Not as much has been written about psychological paradigms or the process of psychotherapy from the perspective of the therapist who is not a dominant group member. This article explores both the common and divergent experiences that we, the authors, share as African American female therapists and the different reactions we frequently elicit in clients. We also explore how individual differences in our physical appearances, personal backgrounds, and different characteristics of our respective practices elicit distinct responses from clients that we believe are based on differences between us, despite the fact that we are both African American women. We believe that many of the stereotypes that affect perceptions of African American female clients also exist for African American female therapists. We will address how the intersection of gender, race, and sexual orientation of the client highlights the complexity of culturally competent practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Knowledge: Marvin R. Goldfried.

Marvin R. Goldfried received the 2001 Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Knowledge. He was given this award because of his contributions to the science and practice of clinical psychology. He has written or edited defining works in the areas of Rorschach, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy, and psychotherapy integration. His contributions to psychotherapy research were recognized by his election to presidency of the Society for Psychotherapy Research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Expectations of psychotherapy duration: How long should psychotherapy last?

Surveyed 234 members (aged 36–55 yrs) of American Psychological Association (APA) Division 29 (Psychotherapy) regarding their expectations of the number of psychotherapy sessions needed to successfully treat persons with various psychological disorders. Psychologists expected 30–40 sessions of individual psychotherapy to achieve clinically significant change. Differences in treatment duration expectancies were associated with client diagnosis and with therapist age, gender, therapeutic orientation, and experience. Psychotherapists' judgments of appropriate treatment durations should be considered when establishing guidelines for the duration of psychotherapy for specific psychological problems and disorders. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Family-of-origin therapy: An intergenerational approach.

Reviews the book, Family-of-origin therapy: An intergenerational approach by James L. Framo (see record 1992-97188-000). This book is a summation of the author's intergenerational approach to psychotherapy which has evolved in his 35 years of clinical practice. For his theoretical base he draws on Fairbairn's object relations theory, combined with Dicks' application of this theory to marital relationships. Framo further integrates this approach with the basic precepts of Bowen's multigenerational theory, particularly Bowen's emphasis on bypassing transferential issues by encouraging patients to connect with members of their family-of-origin. The innovative and unique aspect of Framo's psychotherapeutic approach is his use of one or two family-of-origin sessions. In the course of psychotherapy with adult clients, whether seen individually, as a couple, or in a couples group, he encourages them to bring in the members of their family-of-origin for two, two-hour sessions. The purpose is for the patient to develop the capacity and the courage to talk directly to all familial significant others about unresolved issues between them, rather than spending months or years talking to their therapist about these issues, or in analyzing the patient's transferential projections onto the therapist. Framo's thesis is that the family-of-origin consultation can have great power in producing positive change and flexibility in the individual and in the marital and family systems. He states that the intergenerational encounter can "create an opportunity for forgiveness for alleged wrongs, for mutual misunderstandings, compromise, acceptance and resolution." In this book the author clearly delineates his conceptual basis as well as providing explicit guidelines regarding the conduct of the family-of-origin sessions. The book is an important addition to the proliferating family therapy literature and a significant step toward integrating object relations and family systems theories and practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Changes in counselor adherence over the course of training.

Following recommendations of S. F. Butler and H. H. Strupp (1993), novice counselors were used to examine the development of adherence and counselor interactional style over the course of manual-based training in time-limited dynamic psychotherapy (TLDP; H. H. Strupp & J. Binder; 1984). Adherence to TLDP was assessed with the Vanderbilt Therapeutic Strategies Scale. Counselor interactional style was assessed with the client version of the Working Alliance Inventory. Growth curve analyses showed a significant linear increase in TLDP adherence and in client-rated working alliance for the novice counselors across 4 supervised training sessions. Time-series analysis (cross-correlations) indicated there was a lead-lag relationship with (a) counseling sessions in which higher ratings of counselor interactional style followed sessions with more counselor adherence to a general psychodynamic interviewing style and (b) sessions with higher ratings on adherence to psychodynamic interviewing style preceded sessions with higher level of adherence to TLDP specific strategies. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reflections of a consulting counseling psychologist: Implications of the principles for education and training at the doctoral and postdoctoral level in consulting psychology for the practice of counseling psychology.

Examines issues related to the "Principles for Education and Training at the Doctoral and Postdoctoral Level in Consulting Psychology/Organizational" (R. L. Lowman et al, Education & Training Committee, see record 2003-04049-003), viewed from the perspective of a counseling psychologist whose primary work role is organizational consultation. The author traces the foundations of counseling psychology as they relate to organizational consulting practice. Comparisons are drawn between unifying themes and roles of counseling psychologists and consulting psychology domains and competencies. Each competency domain is examined with respect to its relative uniqueness or similarity of coverage in counseling psychology training and practice. Issues are raised about the relationship of individual counseling and individual consulting psychology. Suggestions are made about increased inclusion in training of vocational psychology theory, multicultural issues, supervised practicum experience, and role boundary work with respect to consultation and psychotherapy. The Principles are viewed as a resource to counseling psychologists, particularly in defining competencies and training needs related to enhancement of intergroup relations and organizational-wide structural interventions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Improving quality in psychotherapy.

Discusses quality improvement (QI) in psychotherapy, and suggests that the managed care movement may have the effect of stimulating higher quality outpatient care. QI may stimulate better compliance with treatment protocols. Academic clinical psychology has produced treatment protocols and indicators of good psychotherapy but these may be ignored by the practicing psychotherapist as unwieldy and impractical. Continuous QI is a behavioral data-driven technology that can be applied to mental health services. The present article gives an example of nonadversarial data-driven process and outcome improvements. A shift of paradigm toward feedback loops in psychotherapy, collecting data on therapeutic change, and patient satisfaction at each session guide therapy. Data collected may help guide the individual sessions and can be collected to establish a dose–effect relationship for a particular therapist, or for a clinic or group. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

What clients find helpful in psychotherapy: Developing principles for facilitating moment-to-moment change.

Clients who had completed psychotherapy were interviewed about the significant experiences and moments they recalled within their sessions. These interviews were analyzed using grounded theory, creating a hierarchy of categories that represent what clients find important in therapy. From the hermeneutic analysis of the content of these categories, a list of principles was constructed to guide the moment-to-moment process of psychotherapy practice. The authors respond to the call for qualitative outcome studies and demonstrate how qualitative psychotherapy research can lead to empirically derived principles that then can become the foundation of future research and psychotherapy integration efforts. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Descriptive characteristics and length of psychotherapy of Chinese American clients seen in private practice.

Professional psychologists often have a need for information on the patterns of service accessing and service use by ethnic groups. Demographic characteristics and psychotherapy use of 229 Chinese American clients, seen in a Southern California private practice between 1989 and 1996, are described. Diagnostic evaluations of 27 assessment requests, 77 consultations, and 125 psychotherapy cases indicated that depressive disorders, adjustment disorders, anxiety disorders, and relational problems were the most frequently presented problems. For the 125 treated cases, length of treatment ranged from 1–38 sessions with a median of 4 and mean of 5.98 sessions. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of DSM-IV cluster B personality disorder symptoms on the termination and continuation of psychotherapy.

This study investigates the relationship between therapy attendance with DSM-IV criteria for the cluster B personality disorders (antisocial [ANPD]; borderline [BPD]; histrionic [HPD]; and narcissistic [NPD]). Ninety patients who were found to meet DSM-IV criteria for an Axis II disorder (cluster A personality disorders?=?10; ANPD?=?20, BPD?=?25, HPD?=?5, NPD?=?14; cluster C personality disorders?=?16). Total number of DSM-IV criteria for BPD (r?=?.33, p?=?.001) and ANPD (r?=?–.22, p?=?.04) were significantly related to the number of psychotherapy sessions attended by a patient. Stepwise regression indicated that the 5 individual criteria BPD-1, NPD-4, BPD-8, HPD-8, and ANPD-7 (in order of entry into the regression equation) were independent and nonredundant predictors that explained 31% of variance found in the number of psychotherapy sessions attended by patients. The presence or absence of 3 of these individual criteria provided a good balance of positive predictive power (.78–.95) and overall correct classification rate (.53–.69) for therapy continuation. Clinical and research implications of personality characteristics are discussed in relation to the termination and continuation of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Rorschach and MMPI-2 indices of early psychotherapy termination.

This study was an investigation of the differences between 97 patients who had prematurely terminated psychotherapy (M?=?1 session) and 81 who had participated in individual psychotherapy for at least 6 months and 24 sessions (M?=?18 months/72 sessions) on selected Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 (MMPI-2) and Rorschach variables. None of the between-group comparisons using the MMPI-2 proved to be significant. However, a multivariate analysis of variance of 9 Rorschach variables in 3 conceptual categories, (1) interpersonal relatedness, (2) psychological resources versus resource demand, and (3) level of psychopathology, proved to be significant at p?=?.008. The Rorschach scores from the interpersonal-relational category proved to be the most robust in differentiating the 2 groups. The theoretical implications of interpersonal variables are discussed in relation to the termination and continuation of patients in psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Insights from behavior therapy: A case study combining behavioral and psychoanalytic therapies.

Discusses the effects of a hospital-based behavioral program on psychoanalytically oriented individual psychotherapy in terms of a case study of an 11-yr-old male. The introduction of a behavioral program in the hospital milieu, although far removed from the patient's therapy sessions, facilitated formation of a positive relationship with the individual therapist. (17 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An empirical study of the natural history of time-limited psychotherapy for stress response syndromes.

30 White female patients (aged 21–53 yrs) received individual, time-limited (12 sessions), dynamic psychotherapy following the death of a parent. Treatment followed the principles for the treatment of stress response syndromes and included focused use of suggestion, interpretation, clarification, abreaction, and work to resolve impending defenses and transference reactions. The patients' 11 therapists completed the 34-item Therapist Action Scale to indicate actions used in therapy. Results show that of the 6 dimensions that varied significantly over the course of the 12 sessions, Transference and Termination showed the most dramatic change across time, changing from a relatively low emphasis early in psychotherapy to the 2nd highest action in the final session. Findings indicate systematic variation in therapist actions. The way changes occurred across sessions depended on the kind of actions the therapist took. The last session was not representative of other sessions in the treatment. (30 ref) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The T1/35kDa family of poxvirus-secreted proteins bind chemokines and modulate leukocyte influx into virus-infected tissues

This article presents the development of a new 82-item rating scale of therapist adherence and competence for supportive-expressive (SE) dynamic psychotherapy for the treatment of cocaine dependence. Sixty-four items are rated for adherence, appropriateness, and quality of prescribed interventions. As part of the pilot/training phase of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Collaborative Cocaine Treatment Study, two independent expert judges rated 32 audiotapes of SE therapy sessions with cocaine-dependent patients, 10 tapes of cognitive therapy (CT) sessions, and 10 tapes of individual drug counseling (IDC) sessions. Reliability was acceptable for adherence but poor for quality and appropriateness. SE therapists used more expressive (interpretative) techniques than did either CT therapists or IDC counselors, and they used more supportive techniques than did IDC counselors.     

Clients' internal representations of their therapists.

Thirteen adults in long-term individual psychotherapy were interviewed regarding their internal representations (defined as bringing to awareness the internalized "image") of their therapists. Results indicated that in the context of a good therapeutic relationship, clients' internal representations combined auditory, visual, and kinesthetic (i.e., felt presence) modalities; were triggered when clients thought about past or future sessions, or when distressed; occurred in diverse locations; and varied in frequency, duration, and intensity. Clients felt positively about their representations and used them to introspect or influence therapy within sessions, beyond sessions, or both. The frequency of, comfort with, and use of clients' internal representations increased over the course of therapy, and the representations benefited the therapy and therapeutic relationship. Therapists tended not to take a deliberate role in creating clients' internal representations, and few clients discussed their internal representations with their therapists. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Report of conference on an ideal training program for psychotherapists.

32 representatives of the fields of clinical psychology, social work, psychiatry, and psychoanalysis discussed a set of 14 working papers. The 3 principal preparations for psychotherapeutic practice today are psychiatric residency, doctoral and postdoctoral programs in clinical psychology, and social work school, plus supervised work in a social work agency. Each has valuable contributions to make. Several types of pilot plans for improved training were proposed as being worth trying. Several kinds of potential institutional settings for such programs were considered. Regarding curriculum, "there was unanimous agreement that supervised experience in doing psychotherapy was of primary importance." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effects of psychotherapy training and intervention use on session outcome.

Objective: This study was an investigation of the relationships among therapist training variables, psychotherapy process, and session outcome in a psychotherapy training clinic. The aims were to assess the relationship between “training as usual” and intervention use in individual psychotherapy, to investigate the relationship between therapist intervention use and session outcome, and to test whether training variables moderate this relationship. Method: Graduate student therapists (n = 19; mean age = 27 years; 79% women; 84% White) provided information about their training and completed a measure of intervention use (Multitheoretical List of Therapeutic Interventions; McCarthy & Barber, 2009) and clients (n = 42; mean age = 33 years; 64% women; 95% White) completed a measure of session outcome (Session Progress Scale; Kolden, 1991) after each session of individual psychotherapy. Results: With regard to intervention use and session outcome, no main effects were found for the training variables. Consequently, tests of moderation were not performed. The final model for intervention use and session outcome yielded main effects for time-varying interpersonal therapy and time-varying common factor use, and a 3-way interaction among time-varying cognitive–behavioral (CBT) intervention use, between-patient common factor use, and between-therapist common factor use. Patients who received more common factor interventions on average rated sessions as less helpful when more CBT interventions were employed; this finding was stronger for patients who were being treated by therapists with higher average levels of common factor use. Conclusions: Implications for training are discussed, with particular attention paid to the importance of clinical decision making and the complex interaction between common and unique technical factors in practice. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)