Maximizing Effectiveness in Dynamic Psychotherapy

The best therapists embody the changes they attempt to facilitate in their patients. In other words, they practice what they preach.Maximizing Effectiveness in Dynamic Psychotherapy shows therapists how andwhy to develop the specific skills and personal qualities they need to be as effective as possible. Both psychotherapy research and recent neuro-scientific findings suggest that very specific factors are responsible for brain change and positive outcome in psychotherapy. These factors—and strategies for developing them—are front and center in this book, and are illustrated with detailed, verbatim case transcripts. In addition, a model of treatment that incorporates all six factors—intensive short term dynamic psychotherapy—will be introduced. The relatively neglected factor of the person of the therapist is also highlighted here, with special emphasis placed on the skills and qualities of "super-shrinks" —the top 20% who get better and more consistent results than the rest. Therapists of every stripe can incorporate the skills presented in Maximizing Effectiveness in Dynamic Psychotherapy into their practice in order to deepen their skills, enhance effectiveness and, ultimately, help more patients.

Patricia Coughlin (Della Selva), PhD, is a clinical psychologist with more than 30 years of experience as a psychodynamic therapist, international teacher/trainer and author. She has been a clinical professor of psychiatry at Northwestern University School of Medicine, Albany Medical College, and Jefferson Medical College. Currently, she is visiting scholar at the University of New Mexico School of Medicine. Her bookIntensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy is considered a classic in the field.