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This paper provides a critical analysis and synthesis of the current status and emerging developments in contemporary couple therapy. Its narrative centers on the evolution of couple therapy into a prominent intervention modality and coherent body of practice. The review begins with the consideration of the field's strong empirical underpinnings derived from research on couple therapy and basic relational science. Couple therapy comprises the widely accepted method for reducing relationship distress and enhancing relationship quality. Moreover, both as a stand-alone intervention and in conjunction with other treatment formats, couple-based interventions have garnered considerable empirical support for their effectiveness in addressing a broad spectrum of specific relational dysfunctions as well as individual emotional and physical health problems. We highlight the convergence of methods through common factors, shared strategies, and remarkably similar arrangements across approaches. Our review also points to key differences among approaches, the importance of recognizing respective strengths and limitations linked to these differences, and building on differences across models when selecting and tailoring interventions for a given couple. The discussion concludes with a consideration of recent trends in the field including the impact of telehealth and related digital technologies, the expansion of specific treatments for specific problems and diverse populations, the interface of couple therapy with relationship education, and enduring challenges as well as new opportunities addressing broader systemic and global dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Legal liability of a psychotherapy provider in non-medical facilities and the related death of a psychotherapist from a legal point of view The topic of the paper is an analysis of selected legal aspects of the legal liability of psychotherapy providers outside health care facilities and the legal consequences of the death of such a psychotherapist in the context of client data protection [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotion-Focused Therapy is (understood as) an integrative, neo-humanistic, therapeutic approach whose formation and further development is substantially bound with empirical research of psychotherapeutic processes and mechanisms of change in therapy. This paper deals with empirical studies that were published during the second decade of the 21st century, focused on the efficacy of EFT used in the therapy of anxiety disorder, as well as other mental disorders. Current findings are being presented in the context of an individual-focused, family-focused and group-focused form of EFT. Particular attention is paid to selected new directions and innovations in the field of research that emerged only in recent years, during the verification process of the EFT – especially the transdiagnostic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES) are a specific disease that is correctly diagnosed and therefore explicitly distinguished from epilepsy with the usual latency of several years. The gold diagnostic standard is a long-term video- electroencephalographic examination, which, however, is not commonly available in present medical conditions. Misdiagnosis occurs usually in PNES patients with a history of psychotraumatization, whose seizure often have a dramatic course resembling a generalized epileptic seizure. With these patients, the summoned emergency medical service usually assume epileptic genesis due to a rapid clinical evaluation and a lack of anamnestic information and initiates treatment of epileptic status, thus challenging the diagnosis. Repeated reevaluation of the diagnosis and inconsistent conclusions may complicate psychological treatment and may lead to the cooperation of the patient. PNES, as an interdisciplinary disease, requires high demands on the expertise of the patient's therapists. Although the psychologist / psychotherapist has a crucial role in the PNES treatment, in the case of re-evaluation of the diagnosis, the psychologist / psychotherapist relies on the conclusions of doctors from the field of neurology, psychiatry or other specializations relevant for the patient. The submitted paper focuses on the description of the issues related to the psychological treatment of patients with PNES. Among the most common issues belong frequent challenging of the determined diagnosis by doctors, who are not experienced in PNES, which lead to the patient's low trust in the healthcare system, as well as non-acceptance of the diagnosis by patients and their relatives. The paper also discusses the possible solutions of mentioned issues, emphasizing the importance of establishing cooperation with the patient during the first contact, multidisciplinary cooperation, individual psychotherapeutic approach with patient and the patient's family. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Handling of information in the provision of psychotherapy in non-medical facilities and the issue of providing information to third parties. The topic of the paper is selected legal aspects of the provision of psychotherapy outside health care facilities, specifically the issue of handling client data and providing information to third parties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article is focused on possibilities in using discourse and conversation analyses in psychotherapy and counseling research. First part is concerned on introduction of both research traditions and their similarities as well as differences. Second part of the paper consists of examples of realises studies focused on 1. formulations (therapists ´ utterances connected to clients´ reactions) in psychotherapy and counseling, 2. discursive pursuing of therapist's agenda (therapists´goals and plans for therapy), 3. change process research and 4. broader discourse perspectives in psychotherapy and counseling. Some limitations and possible directions for future development of conversation and discourse analyses in psychotherapy and counseling research are pointed out as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents „pragmatic case study” of psychotherapy. The case contains tvelwe gestalt therapy sessions led by leading professional in the field. Significant events were identified from the client's and therapist's points of view. Those events were analysed using Recursive Frame Analysis (RFA) for capturing the way of co- -constructing this event. One significant event is presented in the article with transcription and RFA chart as well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper introduces psychotherapeutic experience with alcohol addicted homeless clients. The focus of the article is motivation of a client from time perspective, i.e. a development of early, continuous, and final motivation of a client to change one's life style after an intervention of the centre in Havírov. The author describes pitfalls of such motivation and refers to case studies of various clients. Readers can observe specifics of work with addicted clients without homes via symptoms of individual addiction development. The paper shows influences on clients' motivation as well as specific features of the cooperation between a therapist and a client. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SUMMARY: Alcohol is used as a means of alleviating subjective symptoms of depression. Clinical practice suggests, however, that depression very often develops as a result of alcohol use. Severe forms of depression occur among 27% of alcohol users in treatment, while 40% of these patients experience minor depressive disorders. In addition to psychotherapy, psychopharmacotherapy is also used to treat depression. A wide range of pharmaceuticals are available, and some of them have been shown to be effective in treating the comorbidity of depression and alcohol use. The effects of these therapies are not immediate; they typically take several weeks. This case study is based on the experience of the outpatient addiction treatment clinic at the Department of Addictology of the First Faculty of Medicine of Charles University and the General University Hospital in Prague. It addresses a specific case of a 51-year-old client in treatment for alcohol dependency with comorbid depression. The aims of this paper are to describe the context of the case, as well as pointing out the inconsistency with which different addictological services approach comorbidities and pharmacotherapy. This is a major clinical issue which presents a great demand for interdisciplinary liaison and calls for the development of integrated procedures to be applied to clients with such conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pain, from its origin through its treatment and in its subsequent maintenance, is influenced by psychosocial factors. For this reason, psychotheraphy is also used in pain treatment. The use of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) is dominant. The paper describes the history of CBT and its three basic approaches: behavioral, (operant), cognitive, and cognitive-behavioral. The indications to CBT and the most frequent problems in treatment are isolated. Basic CBT techniques in chronic pain treatment, namely the cognitive restructuration and the practice of skills for pain and stress management (education, adaptive positive self-instruction, relaxation and imagination, increasing activity, exposition, structured problem solving, and relapse coping) are specified. Particular fields of chronic pain which represent the goal of multidisciplinary program of pain treatment including CBT are examined. The author structures basic assumptions of successful program: direct and indirect positive reinforcement of pain behavior, positive reinforcement of required behavior, improvement of physical condition, cognitive reframing, education, training in CBT in pain treatment, and conforming to the CBT principles. The paper sumarizes the efficiency of CBT in chronic pain treatment in adult patients, describes problems in its monitoring and suggests some innovations for increasing its use [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study summarizes current theoretical knowledge about a rather new field of adventure therapy, which started in Anglo-Saxon countries approx. twenty years ago. The paper introduces fundamental historical sources and moments that were crucial when potential therapeutic and educational resources of adventure were analyzed. The aim of the paper is to show the impact of adventure therapy within the framework of current psychotherapy and/or kinesiotherapy, which is accepted by psychiatrists and its effectiveness is currently scientifically evaluated. The final part of the paper describes current development and perspectives of adventure therapy, and mentions congresses which have been held on the topic. The Czech Republic plays an active role in this development as it has been chosen to organize the 6th International Adventure Therapy Conference in 2012. This event (along with European Health Psychology Conference) is one of the most important professional events in the field of psychology and psychotherapy held in the Czech Republic in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper gives an overview of current developments in discourse analysis, including its most prominent trends, protagonists, theories, and concepts. The paper emphasizes diversity of approaches to discourse analysis and gives specific examples of their application to research in health psychology, feminist psychology, and counselling and psychotherapy. In this way, the paper aims to document the relevance of discourse analysis for psychological research and, by implication, for psychological theory and practice. The debate includes Potter's and Wetherell's approach to discourse analysis, rhetorical psychology, discursive psychology, conversation analysis, poststructural discourse analysis and critical discursive psychology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forgiveness is one of the psychological phenomena, which did not received adequate attention in psychological studies for a long time. The situation is changing due the rise of applied positive psychology and thus the topic is the subject of interdisciplinary studies in the world. This paper points to the considerable potential of the process of forgiveness as one of the intervention techniques in counseling and psychotherapy, which aims to improve the psychological health of the client. Forgiveness can be one of the options how to reduce the negative affective aspect of suffering - the psychological injury of a victim. First, it is pointed to the essence of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy, then, the forgiveness is defined regarding the phases of forgiveness and the process of forgiveness is described according R. D. Enright. The process models of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy are presented regarding the health aspect of forgiveness and non-forgiveness. In the conclusion, some results of studies dealing with intervention programs of process model of forgiveness in the field of quality of life, namely physical and mental health, are mentioned. Besides that, the author tries to outline the strengths and weaknesses of the process of forgiveness in counseling and psychotherapy based on three approaches to forgiveness in psychotherapy. The hope turns out that this phenomenon will become the subject of deeper psychological study not only abroad but also in the Czech and Slovak Republics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with dying and death which doctor often has to encounter in practice. Especially while facing the terminally ill and dying, doctor can realise that modern medicine has its limits and a new way how to satisfy other important needs of this group of patients is searched for. For a modern man, it is important to live successfully, happily and long. Logotherapy turns a man in death to life. It helps people overcome the feelings of emptiness and loneliness by looking at life that existed once and despite death there are still things and facts that do not disappear with the death of the individual. In order to at least partially mediate the sick the perspective of relief in these difficult moments of life, such as death and dying of a man are, doctor has to himself understand the transformation of the perspective on the dying man. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper is focused on burn-out among staff in helping professions, in terms of existential analysis and logotherapy. A person with this disease has the feelings „I must", as well as he has lost contact with himself, and he experiences feelings of emptiness and hopelessness. The meaning of life for such a person is greatly endangered. In this way, logotherapy offers opportunities to work with this kind of people, teaching to be able to leave the „roles" and relate to self, first to self-image and ultimately to the surroundings. Keywords: burn-out syndrome, sense, doctor, existential analysis, logotherapy, values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]