Psychotherapists

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Distribution within Psychology


Selected Abstracts


COMMENTARY BY A UKCP-REGISTERED PSYCHOANALYTIC PSYCHOTHERAPIST

BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 2 2000
Laurie Slade
First page of article [source]


Spiritually oriented psychodynamic psychotherapy

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2009
Edward P. Shafranske
Abstract Spiritually oriented psychodynamic psychotherapy pays particular attention to the roles that religious and spiritual beliefs, practices, and experiences play in the psychological life of the client. Contemporary psychoanalytic theorists offer multiple approaches to understand the functions of religious experience. Spirituality provides a means to address existential issues and provide a context to form personal meaning. Religious narratives present schemas of relationship and models of experiences salient to mental health, such as hope. God images or other symbolic representations of the transcendent have the power to evoke emotions, which in turn, influence motivation and behavior. While employing theories and techniques derived from psychodynamic psychotherapy, this therapeutic approach encourages the analysis of the functions religion and spirituality serve, while respecting the client's act of believing in faith. Psychotherapists address a client's spirituality by exploring the psychological meaning of such personal commitments and experiences and refrain from entering into discussion of faith claims. ©2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 65:1,11, 2009. [source]


Transformational change: A historical review

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2004
William L. White
Recovery from alcoholism can occur through a process of psychological death and rebirth. Generating a new person within a body once occupied by another, transformational change (TC) stands as a life-defining experience demarcating before (old self) and after (new self). The TC experiences of 7 individuals (Handsome Lake, John Gough, Francis Murphy, Jerry McAuley, Bill Wilson, Marty Mann, and Malcolm X) are presented here. Their recoveries from addiction catalyzed larger abstinence-based mutual aid, advocacy, or religious/cultural revitalization movements. Psychotherapists are encouraged to respect the healing power of the TC experience, avoid aborting the TC experience via superficial amelioration of its more disquieting manifestations, interpret the TC experience in ways that solidify and sustain the change process, and help bridge the TC experience and the construction of a new identity and lifestyle. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session. [source]


Ethical beliefs of mental-health professionals and undergraduates regarding therapist practices

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 6 2001
Andrew M. Pomerantz
Psychotherapists should be aware of any discrepancies of opinion between themselves and those outside the mental-health profession regarding the ethicality of therapist actions. In this study, the beliefs of mental-health professionals and nonprofessionals (represented by undergraduate students) regarding the ethicality of therapist behaviors were compared. Factor analysis of 82 specific therapist behaviors yielded three factors: nonsexual dual relationships, assertive or discomforting therapist actions, and sexual dual relationships. A comparison of factor composite scores indicated that undergraduates, in relation to professionals, rated nonsexual dual relationships as more ethical and assertive or discomforting actions as less ethical. Although these effects may diminish with age, these results nonetheless suggest that mental-health professionals may hold ethical beliefs that are inconsistent with those who seek their services. Implications of these findings are discussed. © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Clin Psychol 57: 737,748, 2001. [source]


Roger Kennedy, Psychotherapists as Expert Witnesses: Families at Breaking Point

JOURNAL OF FAMILY THERAPY, Issue 1 2006
Colin Luger
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


Scottish psychoanalysis: A rational religion

JOURNAL OF THE HISTORY OF THE BEHAVIORAL SCIENCES, Issue 1 2008
Gavin Miller
The ambition to rationally preserve a Christian religious inheritance distinctively informs Scottish psychoanalytic ideas. Scottish psychoanalysis presents the human personality as born into communion with others. The aim of therapy is to restore, preserve, and promote genuinely interpersonal relations. The Scottish psychoanalysis apparent in the work of W. R. D. Fairbairn, Ian Suttie, Hugh Crichton-Miller, and in the philosophy of John Macmurray, is exported to New Zealand, where it is promoted by the New Zealand Association of Psychotherapists. Scottish psychoanalytic ideas also remain effective in post-war Britain: the idea of communion appears in dialogue with other theories in thework of Harry Guntrip, John Macquarrie, R. D. Laing, and Aaron Esterson. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. [source]


Clinical use of the adult attachment interview in parent,infant psychotherapy

INFANT MENTAL HEALTH JOURNAL, Issue 4 2004
Miriam Steele
This article provides an illustration of how the use of the Adult Attachment Interview (AAI; George, Kaplan, & Main, 1985) can be extended beyond the research arena to its use as a clinical instrument in parent,infant psychotherapy. The article is based on the ongoing work of the Parent,Infant Project team at the Anna Freud Centre, London, where psychoanalytically trained therapists routinely administer the AAI early in the therapeutic process. In the first part of the article, we introduce the thinking behind the use of the AAI as a clinical tool and its particular relevance to the field of parent,infant psychotherapy. In the second part, we track the accruing clinical picture built up from a case example of the initial clinical sessions with a father who attended the Parent,Infant Project with his partner and two young children, and from the father's AAI. The discussion of the AAI material illustrates the distinct, yet related, interpretations of the parent,infant psychotherapist and the independent AAI coder as each made sense of the father's interview transcript. The resulting dialogue, between the psychodynamic-clinical and the attachment-research based approaches to the AAI, aims to highlight the added value the interview provides to the clinical understanding and process in parent,infant psychotherapy, which may ultimately help bridge the gap between the research and clinical domains. [source]


Political therapy: an encounter with Dr John Alderdice, psychotherapist, political leader and peer of the realm

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOANALYTIC STUDIES, Issue 2 2009
Graham Little
Abstract This paper comprises an encounter by the author in 1992 with the distinguished Northern Ireland psychotherapist and political leader, The Lord Alderdice of Knock. Born in Northern Ireland in 1955, John Alderdice graduated in Medicine in 1978, and qualified as a member of the Royal College of Psychiatrists in 1983, followed by higher specialist training in Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy. Alderdice joined the Northern Ireland Alliance Party in 1978, and in 1987 was elected Party Leader. Raised to the peerage as Baron Alderdice in 1996, he was one of the key negotiators of the Good Friday Agreement signed in 1998. This 1997 paper includes the author's interview with Alderdice, together with his observations on Alderdice's two-handed psychoanalytic and political practice, his "political therapy". Drawing upon the author's roots as a Belfast-born Australian, the paper reflects on the possibilities of Alderdice's applied psychoanalysis , of politics "off the couch". Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Paint and Pedagogy: Anton Ehrenzweig and the Aesthetics of Art Education

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ART & DESIGN EDUCATION, Issue 3 2009
Beth Williamson
Anton Ehrenzweig's work training art teachers at Goldsmiths College in London was groundbreaking in its field. The work of the studio fed back into Ehrenzweig's writings through his reflections on teaching and the work produced in end of year shows. In The Hidden Order of Art (1967), he theorised the creative process in psychoanalytic terms and elsewhere likened the task of the art teacher to that of a psychotherapist. In this article I argue that, by taking psychoanalytic art theory into the teaching studio, Ehrenzweig provided a psychic space within which students were freed from convention and encouraged to pursue their own practice. [source]


Childhood trauma has dose-effect relationship with dropping out from psychotherapeutic treatment for bulimia nervosa: A replication

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF EATING DISORDERS, Issue 2 2001
Jennifer Mahon
Abstract Objective The primary goal of this study was to replicate the finding that experiences of childhood trauma have a dose-effect relationship with dropping out from psychotherapeutic treatment for bulimia nervosa. It also aimed to replicate logistic regression findings that parental break-up predicts dropping out. Method The cohort consisted of 114 women consecutively presenting to an outpatient eating disorders clinic with bulimia nervosa or atypical bulimia nervosa. Data were gathered using a retrospective, case-note approach and were analysed using logistic regression (LR). A correlation technique was employed to assess the presence of a dose-effect relationship between experiences of trauma in childhood and dropping out. LR models were double cross-validated between this and an earlier cohort. Results The dose-effect relationship between experiences of childhood trauma and dropping out was confirmed. Witnessing parental break-up in childhood again predicted dropping out of treatment in adulthood. Cross-validation of LR equations was unsuccessful. Discussion These results strongly suggest that experiences of childhood trauma have a dose-effect relationship with dropping out. Parental break-up is a stable predictor of dropping out. It is possible that these experiences influence attachment style, particularly the ability to make and maintain a trusting relationship with a psychotherapist. Clinical implications are discussed. © 2001 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 30: 138,148, 2001. [source]


Reaching the covert, fragile side of patients: The case of narcissistic personality disorder

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
Giuseppe Nicolò
A multifaceted self allows selection of those sides that are most suited to a situation and an interpersonal context, thus improving adaptation. Patients suffering from personality disorders display a limited range of self-aspects, and their relationships are stereotyped and maladaptive. Another problem is that some of these sides scarcely reach consciousness and usually remain in the background. In the case of narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) the self-part that is fragile is unlikely to reach consciousness, so that people suffering from this disorder are impervious and detached. We present a case of a psychotherapist working with a woman suffering from NPD by facilitating the emergence of the fragile part of her self, hidden by angry and scornful characters. We demonstrate, moreover, how reaching such a self-part is associated with an improvement in the patient's interpersonal relationships outside the consulting room. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 63: 141,152, 2007. [source]


Don't be a sheep: How this eldest daughter became a feminist therapist

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2005
Laura S. BrownArticle first published online: 8 JUN 200
This article describes what I consider to be important influences on the development of my career as a psychotherapist. I explore familial effects, the influences of culture and of individual role models, and the impact of the women's movement on my career. I also examine the role that a contrarian, "outside" stance has played in the selection of my career and theoretical orientation. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 61: 949,956, 2005. [source]


What inspired me to become a psychotherapist?

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2005
Alvin R. Mahrer
Six answers are given to the question of why I really became a psychotherapist. Of the six answers, three involve what may be considered inspirational influences: the inspirational benefits of what psychotherapy can offer, inspirational teachers, and inspirational practitioners. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 61: 957,964, 2005. [source]


Computer treatment for common mental health problems

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 3 2004
Kate Cavanagh
Perhaps the most complex and controversial role for the computer in clinical practice is as a treatment medium in which the computer effectively replaces the psychotherapist. This article outlines the historical development of computer treatment, from dialogue generators in the 1960s through to the interactive, multimedia programs of the 2000s. In evaluating the most recent developments in computer treatment, we present a small meta-analytic study demonstrating large effect sizes in favor of computer treatments for anxiety and depression for pre/post outcomes and treatment as usual/waitlist comparators. Next, we review studies of the cost effectiveness of computer treatments. Finally, we outline the implications for research, policy, and practice of this new generation of treatment options. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol. [source]


Basic knowledge in psychodermatology

JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF DERMATOLOGY & VENEREOLOGY, Issue 2 2007
F Poot
Abstract Background, The authors try to define the framework of this approach, what should be acquired by "well-informed" dermatologists and what is required to be a pyschodermatologist. Objective, To better define the necessary knowledge to practice psychodermatology. Results, 1) The first level is dermatology psychology: there is a psychotherapeutical implicit effect of the dermatological consultation with a goal that is not psychological change. This effect can be improved by acquiring better communication skills and information. The second level needs a possibility to change the emotional individual process and the relational context in a continuum between counselling and psychotherapy. To practice this level a complete psychotherapeutic education with some specificity is needed. This can be reached by a dermatologist also being a psychotherapist or by a team consisting of both dermatologist-psychotherapist. 2) The psychodermatological patient is characterized by alexithymia. He/she needs to be understood through the body language he/she presents. This kind of patient is coming from families where the theme of loss seems to dominate the histories and be associated with deep emotional experiences of separation anxiety. These characteristics must be known together with the different psychodermatological disorders and the mind-body interaction to handle these patients. 3) Taking all of this complexity into account, the psychodermatologist or the psychodermatological team should be able to integrate the different points and adapt attitudes to the patient's difficulty during the whole therapeutic process. 4) The evaluation of the problem should be done using psychological tools here described. Conclusion, The European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (EADV) together with the European Society for Dermatology and Psychiatry (ESDaP) are able to provide the specific education for dermatologist and psychotherapist. In the future, they could be responsible for the recognition of these special abilities and treatments on a governmental and European political level. [source]


Computer Addiction: Implications for Nursing Psychotherapy Practice

PERSPECTIVES IN PSYCHIATRIC CARE, Issue 4 2005
Diane M. Wieland PhD
TOPIC.,Nurse psychotherapists will encounter the impact of today's technology on the daily lives of people including computer addiction. Computer addiction may also present with comorbidities such as depression, gambling, substance abuse, and marital infidelity and divorce. PURPOSE.,This overview article presents what is currently documented in the literature regarding the incidence, symptomatology, and nursing psychotherapy interventions relevant to computer addiction and its treatment. Issues presented include computer addiction, virtual relationships, online marital infidelity, and compulsive online sexual behavior. SOURCES.,Review of literature from Medline, Psychoinfo, CINAHL, and current texts. CONCLUSIONS., Given the increased use of computers in today's society, there is the potential for overuse of technology and neglect of others and self as a result of computer addiction. Computer disorders also present themselves as marital or couple discord with the potential for online extramarital affairs and compulsive sexual online behavior. A summary and an assessment tool are provided to guide the nurse psychotherapist in practice. [source]


Diabetes control in pregnancy: who takes responsibility for what?

PRACTICAL DIABETES INTERNATIONAL (INCORPORATING CARDIABETES), Issue 8 2003
Dr J Josse FRCPsych Sessional Consultant Psychotherapist
Abstract At our diabetes team meetings in Peterborough, which included a psychotherapist, the issues involved in who takes responsibility for the birth of a healthy baby from a diabetic mother were explored. Traditional prescriptive approaches were compared with the empowerment model in the specific instance of pregnancy, when the needs of the fetus have to be considered as well as those of the mother. Clinical examples are given to illustrate the dilemmas over who takes responsibility with different models, and questions are raised for debate. The empowerment model of diabetes care may not be entirely applicable to the pregnant diabetic woman. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


A new anatomy of spirituality: clinical and political demands the psychotherapist cannot ignore,

PSYCHOTHERAPY AND POLITICS INTERNATIONAL, Issue 3 2004
Andrew Samuels
Abstract I begin with some general issues and problems of defining the ,S' word. Next, I present a contemporary anatomy of spirituality stressing connections to lived experience in society. The third section is on ,responsibility' and how that links to psychological, spiritual and political concerns. Finally, inevitably, given my Jungian background, I discuss the shadow of spirituality. Throughout I make connections to the clinical encounter and dialogue in psychotherapy. Copyright © 2004 Whurr Publishers Ltd [source]


In two minds: Tales of a psychotherapist

AUSTRALASIAN JOURNAL ON AGEING, Issue 1 2010
Karen Teshuva
No abstract is available for this article. [source]


THE WEBSITE,GIRL': CONTEMPORARY THEORIES ABOUT MALE,FEMININITY'

BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHOTHERAPY, Issue 1 2005
Marie Maguire
ABSTRACT I explore a bisexual male patient's need to differentiate highly problematic,feminine'identifications - originating in childhood sexual abuse and impingement by men as well as women - from identifications with more admired aspects of his mother. My main focus is on the patient's sexual identity - the personal meaning he gave to being male - rather than on his bisexuality - his desire for both sexes. In psychoanalytic literature powerful opposite-sex identifications are usually associated either with psychotic confusion or celebrated as a source of psychic strength. The co-existence of problematic and highly valued cross-sex identifications is rarely discussed. I also look at how this patient re-negotiated his identity through the transference relationship with a female psychotherapist, given that his,masculinity'derived mainly from childhood experiences of 'stealing'his mother's phallic power. Through a wideranging theoretical review I conclude that we need to draw together opposing psychoanalytic perspectives about maternal and paternal power, opening up new ways of thinking about triangular relationships in the transference. [source]


Playing with sound: The therapeutic use of music in direct work with children

CHILD & FAMILY SOCIAL WORK, Issue 4 2004
Michelle Lefevre
ABSTRACT Children rarely have the language or the cognitive development to process and convey their experiences solely through words, so spontaneously complement these with symbolic forms of expression and communication, such as play, metaphor and a variety of visual, auditory and kinaesthetic imagery. Consequently, social workers need to supplement verbal methods of assessment and intervention with more symbolic modes of communication and engagement when working directly with children. The play therapy literature has been a key source of guidance and the expressive arts therapies, such as art and drama therapy, are now well represented in the literature and training of social workers in ,direct work with children'. However, principles and practice from music therapy are under-represented. The writer, who is a social worker, psychotherapist and musician, shares her reflections on introducing techniques and theoretical approaches from music therapy into her own therapeutically orientated direct work. Suggestions are made as to how other practitioners (both musically trained and not) could develop the use of music as a further ,tool' in their direct work with children. [source]


Waiting for supershrink: an empirical analysis of therapist effects

CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY AND PSYCHOTHERAPY (AN INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF THEORY & PRACTICE), Issue 6 2003
John Okiishi
Improving the effects of psychotherapy has been accomplished through a variety of methods. One infrequently used method involves profiling patient outcomes within therapist in order to find the empirically supported psychotherapist. This study examined data collected on 1841 clients seen by 91 therapists over a 2.5-year period in a University Counseling Center. Clients were given the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ-45) on a weekly basis. After analysing data to see if general therapist traits (i.e. theoretical orientation, type of training) accounted for differences in clients' rate of improvement, data were then analysed again using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM), to compare individual therapists to see if there were significant differences in the overall outcome and speed of client improvement. There was a significant amount of variation among therapists' clients' rates of improvement. The therapists whose clients showed the fastest rate of improvement had an average rate of change 10 times greater than the mean for the sample. The therapists whose clients showed the slowest rate of improvement actually showed an average increase in symptoms among their clients. Use of this information for improving quality of patient outcomes is discussed.,Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [source]


Influence of psychotherapist density and antidepressant sales on suicide rates

ACTA PSYCHIATRICA SCANDINAVICA, Issue 3 2009
N. D. Kapusta
Objective:, Antidepressant sales and suicide rates have been shown to be correlated in industrialized countries. The aim was to study the possible effects of psychotherapy utilization on suicide rates. Method:, We assessed the impact of antidepressant sales and psychotherapist density on suicide rates between 1991 and 2005. To adjust for serial correlation in time series, three first-order autoregressive models adjusted for per capita alcohol consumption and unemployment rates were employed. Results:, Antidepressant sales and the density of psychotherapists in the population were negatively associated with suicide rates. Conclusion:, This study provides evidence that decreasing suicide rates were associated with both increasing antidepressant sales and an increasing density of psychotherapists. The decrease of suicide rates could reflect a general improvement in mental health care rather than being caused by antidepressant sales or psychotherapist density alone. [source]


Rediscovering MDMA (ecstasy): the role of the American chemist Alexander T. Shulgin

ADDICTION, Issue 8 2010
Udo Benzenhöfer
ABSTRACT Aims Alexander T. Shulgin is widely thought of as the ,father' of +/,3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA). This paper re-assesses his role in the modern history of this drug. Methods We analysed systematically Shulgin's original publications on MDMA, his publications on the history of MDMA and his laboratory notebook. Results According to Shulgin's book PIHKAL (1991), he synthesized MDMA in 1965, but did not try it. In the 1960s Shulgin also synthesized MDMA-related compounds such as 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), 3-methoxy-4,5-methylenedioxyamphetamine (MMDA) and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine (MDE), but this had no impact on his rediscovery of MDMA. In the mid-1970s Shulgin learned of a ,special effect' caused by MDMA, whereupon he re-synthesized it and tried it himself in September 1976, as confirmed by his laboratory notebook. In 1977 he gave MDMA to Leo Zeff PhD, who used it as an adjunct to psychotherapy and introduced it to other psychotherapists. Conclusion Shulgin was not the first to synthesize MDMA, but he played an important role in its history. It seems plausible that he was so impressed by its effects that he introduced it to psychotherapist Zeff in 1977. This, and the fact that in 1978 he published with David Nichols the first paper on the pharmacological action of MDMA in humans, explains why Shulgin is sometimes (erroneously) called the ,father' of MDMA. [source]


Improving Care for Minorities: Can Quality Improvement Interventions Improve Care and Outcomes For Depressed Minorities?

HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH, Issue 2 2003
Controlled Trial, Results of a Randomized
Objective. Ethnic minority patients often receive poorer quality care and have worse outcomes than white patients, yet practice-based approaches to reduce such disparities have not been identified. We determined whether practice-initiated quality improvement (QI) interventions for depressed primary care patients improve care across ethnic groups and reduce outcome disparities. Study Setting. The sample consists of 46 primary care practices in 6 U.S. managed care organizations; 181 clinicians; 398 Latinos, 93 African Americans, and 778 white patients with probable depressive disorder. Study Design. Matched practices were randomized to usual care or one of two QI programs that trained local experts to educate clinicians; nurses to educate, assess, and follow-up with patients; and psychotherapists to conduct Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Patients and physicians selected treatments. Interventions featured modest accommodations for minority patients (e.g., translations, cultural training for clinicians). Data Extraction Methods. Multilevel logistic regression analyses assessed intervention effects within and among ethnic groups. Principal Findings. At baseline, all ethnic groups (Latino, African American, white) had low to moderate rates of appropriate care and the interventions significantly improved appropriate care at six months (by 8,20 percentage points) within each ethnic group, with no significant difference in response by ethnic group. The interventions significantly decreased the likelihood that Latinos and African Americans would report probable depression at months 6 and 12; the white intervention sample did not differ from controls in reported probable depression at either follow-up. While the intervention significantly improved the rate of employment for whites and not for minorities, precision was low for comparing intervention response on this outcome. It is important to note that minorities remained less likely to have appropriate care and more likely to be depressed than white patients. Conclusions. Implementation of quality improvement interventions that have modest accommodations for minority patients can improve quality of care for whites and underserved minorities alike, while minorities may be especially likely to benefit clinically. Further research needs to clarify whether employment benefits are limited to whites and if so, whether this represents a difference in opportunities. Quality improvement programs appear to improve quality of care without increasing disparities, and may offer an approach to reduce health disparities. [source]


Culturally relevant family-based treatment for adolescent delinquency and substance abuse: understanding within-session processes,

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2010
Phillippe B. Cunningham
Abstract Identifying psychotherapy processes that likely contribute to client outcome with ethnic minorities is a vital practice and research need, particularly within family-focused, evidence-based treatments (EBT) for youth with externalizing problems. Identifying process variables within a cross-cultural context may improve the efficacy of EBTs by informing psychotherapists how to modify their behavior when working with ethnically diverse clients. The authors described one approach to the development of culturally competent psychotherapy, using an observational coding system comprising Afrocentric codes to investigate culturally relevant therapist behaviors. Qualitative examples illustrated the quantitative findings relating to therapist in-session behavior that promote client engagement and positive responding during a midtreatment session of multisystemic therapy. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 66:1,17, 2010. [source]


Evidence-based group psychotherapy: using AGPA's practice guidelines to enhance clinical effectiveness

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 11 2008
Molyn Leszcz
Abstract Practice guidelines represent a useful approach to facilitate the delivery of evidence-based mental health care. In this article, we detail group psychotherapy practice guidelines developed by the American Group Psychotherapy Association (AGPA). Combining the research literature with expert consensus, the AGPA has created a resource that should prove useful for psychotherapists, administrators, and patients. We illustrate the guidelines through a series of clinical dilemmas and challenges. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 64: 1,23, 2008. [source]


Developing and maintaining the therapeutic alliance with self-injuring patients

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 11 2007
Nira Nafisi
In this article, the authors outline methods of strengthening the therapist,patient bond with individuals who self-injure. Self-injuring patients present with a host of challenges that differ from other patient populations and therefore certain approaches may be more effective than others. Among the strategies described are validation, checking in, working collaboratively toward goals, providing support, and repairing a ruptured alliance. Potential pitfalls (e.g., reinforcing maladaptive behavior, negative judging, and the fundamental attribution error) to which psychotherapists often fall prey are discussed as well. Self-injury is explained as functional rather than manipulative behavior and detailed clinical guidelines and examples are provided to better illustrate approaches that will improve the therapeutic alliance. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 63: 1069,1079, 2007. [source]


Psychotherapy in Brunei Darussalam

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 8 2007
N. Kumaraswamy
Clinical psychologists face unique challenges in developing Southeast Asian countries because mental health care has not received the kind of attention it deserves. In part, this has been the result of lack of knowledge or misunderstanding about mental health and adherence to various religious and traditional beliefs. In this article, the practice of psychotherapy in Brunei Darussalam is reviewed and then illustrated with a typical case, Mrs. A Asian psychotherapists need more comprehensive knowledge of prevailing cultural beliefs and religious practices among multiethnic population groups. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 63: 735,744, 2007. [source]


Bipolar disorder: What can psychotherapists learn from the cognitive research?

JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY, Issue 5 2007
Sheri Johnson
Randomized controlled trials of psychological treatment, principally cognitive therapy, for bipolar disorder have yielded inconsistent results. Given the status of this evidentiary base, we provide a more fine-grained analysis of the cognitive profiles associated with bipolar disorder to inform clinical practice. In this practice-friendly review, we consider evidence that both negative and positive cognitive styles are related to bipolar disorder. Cross-sectional and prospective evidence suggest that negative cognitive styles are related to depression within bipolar disorder, but there also is evidence that bipolar disorder is related to an elevated focus on goals as well as to increases in confidence during manic states. With such findings as backdrop, we consider the outcomes of psychological treatments for bipolar disorder and advance several suggestions for clinical practice. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 63: 425,432, 2007. [source]