Understanding Therapeutic Action Psychology Revivals

Most of the existing psychodynamic literature approaches the treatment process from one particular theoretical perspective or another. Yet, what contemporary psychotherapists need most is practical information that transcends individual perspectives. After all, they must be able to treat patients who suffer from structural conflict, structural deficit, and relational conflict, and they must be able to understand the theories of therapeutic action associated with these concepts of psychopathology in relation to one another. Originally published in 1996, Understanding Therapeutic Action: Psychodynamic Concepts of Cure both surveys different theories of therapeutic action and offers an integrative model of treatment. Editor Lawrence E. Lifson has brought together contributors who are among the leading theoreticians and practitioners of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Their chapters’ cover all the major perspectives on therapeutic action and are organized into sections covering structural and object relations theories; the self as the focus of therapeutic action; and an integrative approach to the concept of cure. The emphasis throughout is on the translation of theory into clinical practice, with attention given to the contributions of patient and therapist alike in the curative process. Providing clinicians with a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the different models of therapeutic action, this collection is an illuminating exercise in comparative psychotherapy and a valuable tool for enhancing the applicability and effectiveness of clinical work.

Originally published in 1987, the purpose of this book was to show how therapists grappled with cases which challenged their ideas about the theory and practice of psychotherapy at the time, and how they revised these ideas as a result of encountering these cases. The contributors, leading therapists from Britain and the United States, discuss a range of issues – personal, conceptual and technical – that will be of interest to all those engaged in psychotherapeutic work. As such, the book is aimed at those working in psychotherapy counselling, clinical psychology and psychiatry, and at students of these disciplines. It will also have relevance for those with a scholarly interest in developments in the theory and practice of psychotherapy.

Originally published in 1983, fifteen well-known psychologists and psychotherapists write about their personal interests to give the reader a vivid picture of the complexities of psychotherapy in Britain at the time. They explore aspects of the interaction and intersection of the psychological and psychotherapeutic worlds, paying particular attention to the practical and theoretical controversies involved in this overlap. The first half of the book concerns itself with problems of theory and practice in psychology and psychotherapy, while the second half deals with professional conflicts and political issues impinging upon the practice of psychotherapy by psychologists. Areas of concern and controversy that are scrutinised include the problematic relationship between academic psychology and psychotherapy; doubts and certainties in psychotherapy; the psychology of helping; the relevance of the psychodynamic tradition; inter-professional disputes; women and psychotherapy; and social class issues in psychotherapy.

Psychology has influence in almost every walk of life. Originally published in 1997, A Century of Psychology is a review of where the discipline came from, where it had reached and where the editors anticipated it may go. Ray Fuller, Patricia Noonan Walsh and Patrick McGinley assembled an internationally recognised team of mainly European experts from the major applications and research areas of psychology. They begin with a critical review of methodology and its limitations and plot the course of gender and developmental psychology. They go on to include discussion of learning, intellectual disability, clinical psychology and the emergence of psychotherapy, educational psychology, organizational psychology, cognitive psychology, neuropsychology and many other topics, in particular community psychology, perception and alternative medicine. Enlightening, reflective and sometimes provocative, A Century of Psychology is required reading for anyone involved in psychology as a practitioner, researcher or teacher. It is also a lively introduction for those new to the discipline.

Originally published in 1976 and on the basis of extended case histories, Eysenck showed how experts dealt with problems which arose in the course of behaviour therapy. It showed how they formulated hypotheses about causation and treatment, and used these to structure the methods employed; and how they changed their hypotheses when treatment showed them to have been mistaken. The prime aim was to demonstrate the complexities involved in even apparently simple cases, and the need to base treatment on a proper understanding of the dynamics of the case. All the articles were specially written for this book, the purpose being to underline the need to state the dynamics of a case in such a form that they could be used as hypotheses leading to specific treatment recommendations. The hypotheses were tested by the success or failure of the treatment, thus making the treatment of individual patients a proper experimental procedure. Behaviour therapy emphasises the fundamental importance of the outcome problem and only experience can teach the behaviour therapist just how this interplay of theory formulation and design of location, evaluation of effect and changes in theory, works in actual practice. The book will help those engaged in this type of therapy to understand the process better, and to gain a quicker mastery of the technique.

Originally published in 1981, this volume presents papers by the leading British theorists and practitioners in family therapy from its beginnings up to the 1980s. It collected together for the first time a number of important previously published articles which had relevance and interest for family therapists of the day, and includes other chapters specially written for this book which reflected the most recent thinking on the topics covered at the time. The book is divided into three parts. The first, which includes papers by John Bowlby, R.D. Laing and A.C.R. Skynner, deals with the theory behind family therapy. In the second part we see the application of family therapy to specific clinical situations such as adolescent psychiatry, illness, death and mourning in the family, and marital therapy. The third part of the book covers various differential approaches within family therapy, including psychoanalysis; the experiential approach and family construct psychology. The papers in all three parts weld together ideas from the behavioural and the psychodynamic spheres of interest. Addressed as they are to theoretical issues and clinical applications, they linked together the past and future of family therapy at that time.

In his earlier book Rational-Emotive Therapy: Fundamentals and Innovations Dr Dryden outlined the central features of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) as it had developed in and from the work of Albert Ellis. He then proceeded to discuss innovations within the theory, several of which had been instigated by the author. Originally published in 1987, this book builds upon these latter elements. It discusses the theoretical basis of RET, arguing that it can be accurately described as theoretically consistent eclectic therapy, and analyses the problems encountered in, and the benefits derived from, its practice. At the time this book provided a state of the art discussion of RET and will still be of interest for those involved in counselling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology, psychiatry and social work.

When the late Heinz Kohut defined psychoanalysis as the science of empathy and introspection, he sparked a debate that has animated psychoanalytic discourse ever since. What is the relationship of empathy to psychoanalysis? Is it a constituent of analytical technique, an integral aspect of the therapeutic action of analysis, or simply a metaphor for a mode of observation better understood via ‘classical’ theory and terminology? The dialogue about empathy, which is really a dialogue about the nature of the analytic process, continues in this two-volume set, originally published in 1984. In Volume I, several illuminating attempts to define empathy are followed by Kohut’s essay, ‘Introspection, Empathy, and the Semicircle of Mental Health.’ Kohut’s paper, in turn, ushers in a series of original contributions on ‘Empathy as a Perspective in Psychoanalysis.’ The volume ends with five papers which strive to demarcate an empathic approach to various areas of artistic endeavour, including the appreciation of visual art. Volume II continues the dialogue with a series of developmental studies which explore the role of empathy in early child care at the same time as they chart the emergence of the young child’s capacity to empathize. In the concluding section, ‘Empathy in Psychoanalytic Work,’ contributors and discussants return to the arena of technique. They not only theorize about empathy in relation to analytic understanding and communication, but address issues of nosology, considering how the empathic vantage point may be utilized in the treatment of patients with borderline and schizophrenic pathology. In their critical attention to the many dimensions of empathy – philosophical, developmental, therapeutic, artistic – the contributors collectively bear witness to the fact that Kohut has helped to shape new questions, but not set limits to the search for answers. The product of their efforts is an anatomical exploration of a topic whose relevance for psychoanalysis and psychotherapy is only beginning to be understood.