O'Donohue W., Cummings N. Clinical Strategies for Becoming a Master Psychotherapist

Academic Press, 2006. - 367 p. ISBN: 012088416XThe best health practices are a synthesis of science and art. Surgery is a case in point. Although all competent surgeons follow scientific protocols, the best surgeons are masters of the art of surgery and produce better outcomes: e.g., smaller incisions; lower mortality rates. Psychotherapists are in exactly the same position. Psychotherapy is both a science and an art. There are excellent resources that convey information about empirically supported practices - the science of psychotherapy. However, this scientific information is incomplete in two important ways. It does not cover key matters that come up in psychotherapy (e.g., building a therapeutic relationship, resistance, termination), and it often does not fully cover the "art" of implementing these techniques, the nuances, the creative ways, the problem solving strategies when difficulties arise. This book is an attempt to have high profile, expert, "master" therapists discuss the art of handling these key issues.The art and science of psychotherapy
Enhancing client motivation to change
The therapeutic alliance: cultivating and negotiating the therapeutic relationship
Narrative psychotherapy as effective story-making: an introduction
Recognizing and dealing with cultural influences in psychotherapy
Effective understanding and dealing with manipulation
Recognizing and dealing with transference
The temporal structure of therapy: key questions often associated with different phases of sessions and treatments (plus 21 helpful hints)
Resistance as an ally in psychotherapy
Enhancing psychotherapy through appropriate entry points
Dealing with feelings of depression
Designing and assigning effective homework
Skills training : how the master clinician understands and teaches competencies
Using tasks in Ericksonian psychotherapy
Using acceptance in integrative behavioral couple therapy
Short-term dynamic psychotherapy goes to Hollywood: the treatment of performance anxiety in cinema
The importance of novelty in psychotherapy
Interruption replaces termination in focused, intermittent psychotherapy throughout the life cycle
Suicidal patients: the ultimate challenge for master psychotherapists