Does interpersonal psychotherapy protect women from depression in the face of stressful life events?

The present study compared the role of life events in predicting time to index episode onset under conditions of no or variable treatment versus the role of life events in predicting time to recurrence during maintenance interpersonal psychotherapy (IPT). Eighty-three women with recurrent major depression participated in acute IPT treatment followed by 2 years of maintenance IPT. Life events were assessed using contextual interview and rating methods. Cox regression survival analyses indicated that, although severe life events were significantly associated with time to index episode onset, there was little evidence of an association between events experienced during maintenance treatment and time to recurrence. These results provide evidence that IPT may decrease the potency of life events in provoking recurrence. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Foreword.

Two years ago, the editors reasoned that the diverse and fundamental character of religious experience would promote an equally varied special issue devoted to the topic of psychotherapy and religion. We have not been disappointed. The papers composing this issue vary greatly in terms of literary style, research methodology, theoretical persuasion, and religious topics. There remains a need to clarify the extent to which religious issues or material that emerge during therapy need to be dealt with via "new" techniques (involving major modifications of classical techniques and ideologies) or via the classical methodologies, informed, perhaps, by expanded insights and perspectives. This issue is meant to be both current and historically representative. These two goals have not always been in agreement. The day of monolithic theories, presumed to address all matters of religious and psychotherapeutic importance, has passed, but not without leaving trails along which the present studies follow. Contemporary religious pluralism is more closely matched with the varied beliefs and problems of those seeking psychotherapy. This change has entailed a growing refinement in the psychological study of therapy and religious practice; it also implies a more astute and psychologically informed understanding of both the healthy and pathological aspects of religious experience. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Elizabeth Mintz (1913-1997).

Memorializes Elizabeth Mintz. Her contributions to psychotherapy are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Therapists' helpful and unhelpful situations with LGBT clients: An exploratory study.

The purpose of this exploratory study was to identify a broad range of variables that characterize psychotherapists' perceptions of helpful and unhelpful therapy experiences of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender individuals. In-depth, semistructured interviews were conducted with a diverse sample of 14 psychotherapists to identify such variables and patterns among them. Results suggest that a wide range of variables, including the therapeutic relationship, therapist response to the client's sexual orientation/gender identity, type of presenting concern, and the therapy environment, may affect the therapy experiences of this population. The data also suggest that factors such as ethnicity, gender identity, therapy needs, and socioeconomic status should be considered when providing mental health services to this population. Clients dealing with multiple types of marginalization may be particularly challenging for practitioners. Implications for future research and clinical practice are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The effects of manual-based training on treatment fidelity and outcome: A review of the literature on adult individual psychotherapy.

The authors examine training issues related to the use of treatment manuals in psychotherapy outcome research. In particular, they examine methodological considerations such as the operationalization of manual-based training, trainer effects, therapist variables that mediate training, issues related to experimental design, and the choice and definition of appropriate dependent variables. The research literature indicates that manual-based training can produce technical adherence. Improvements in treatment competence were seen within, as opposed to across, cases. Researchers have been unable to draw strong links between treatment fidelity and patient outcomes. The review concludes that the limited focus on training studies in the manual-based treatment field compromises conclusions drawn from psychotherapy outcome research that relies on manuals to ensure a uniform delivery of the experimental variable. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The Intuitive Process: The Case of Psychotherapy.

Intuition may be considered a common factor in psychotherapy, characterizing both psychotherapist and client functioning. After reviewing existing models for intuition, the author proposes a 5-phase model to explain intuition on the basis of the cognitive functions of pattern discovery and recognition. It is argued that intuition should not be viewed as a single phenomenon; rather, the phenomena labeled as intuition can be understood as belonging to different phases of a single process. These phases consist of early knowledge representations that demonstrate the creative role that intuition may play in the construction of knowledge. The author illustrates this model by presenting examples from the practice of psychotherapy. Finally, the author discusses the possibilities of promoting intuitive insight, the fallibility of intuition, and the role intuition may play in integrative decision making. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Gender differences in psychotherapy dyads: Changes in psychological symptoms and responsiveness to treatment during 3 months of therapy.

This investigation examined the relationship between gender (client, therapist, and client/therapist dyad) and various psychotherapy-related variables for clients with mood and/or anxiety disorders. In several instances, both client and therapist gender predicted treatment retention and psychological symptom changes during 3 months of therapy. In general, female clients were more likely to advance beyond the initial intake assessment and also complete 3 months of therapy. Conversely, male clients were more likely to withdraw from therapy after the initial intake assessment. Specific client/therapist gender pairing predicted treatment retention in the mood disorder subsample and trait anxiety symptom severity in the anxiety disorder subsample. Some findings should be interpreted with caution, as there were small group samples in a few of the analyses. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The current status of psychotherapy integration in Germany and Switzerland.

The questions raised by Paul Wachtel are addressed in what follows. Some details have needed to be simplified, as what follows tries to describe the situation in two countries. Moreover, in one of them, Switzerland, the situation varies considerably from canton to canton (corresponding to U.S. states), reminding one of the joke in which a child asks his father where babies come from, and the father answers: "This all depends on the canton." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Pursuing a unifying paradigm for psychotherapy: Tasks, dialectical considerations, and biopsychosocial systems metatheory.

This article focuses on salient issues and directions in pursuing a unifying paradigm for psychotherapy. This endeavor is placed in historical context, followed by discussion of the author's definition of unification and of benefits that can accrue from this pursuit. Subsequently, attention is devoted to the core challenge of reconciling the quest for unity with the enormous, functionally invaluable plurality of knowledge elements deriving from the multiple paradigms guiding psychotherapy theory, research, and practice. Based on Staats (1991, 1999), three tasks necessary for addressing this tension are delineated: undertaking unifying theory analysis to reduce conceptual redundancy; developing bridging theory to unify divergencies, facilitated by dialectical thinking and formulation; and unifying research methodologies in psychotherapy. Discussion then turns to biopsychosocial systems metatheory as a framework for a unifying psychotherapeutic paradigm. In this context, the author examines interrelationship and process as fundamental unifying principles; insights from cybernetics, chaos theory, and their synthesis; and implications of the systems paradigm for unification-oriented scientific inquiry. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Editor's note.

The Editorial Board discusses possibility of publishing a limited number of distinguished contributions concerning the application of psychoanalysis to short- and long-term psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)