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During the last several decades, brief psychotherapeutic approaches to mental health treatment have become increasingly prevalent. This paper describes brief psychotherapy and provides a brief review of the relevant empirical literature. Therapists who are unfamiliar with brief psychotherapy will find that this paper provides a concise introduction to the essential processes and outcomes of this therapeutic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a brief outline of the Conversational Model which is among the best validated of currently employed psychotherapies. The theory is built around the idea that the central task of psychotherapy is to potentiate the emergence and amplification of that dualistic form of consciousness that William James called self. However, this state of mind cannot be acted upon as if it existed in isolation. Rather, it is part of an ecology that includes the form of relatedness that underpins it. No element of the ecology can change unless the other elements also change. Seen in this way, the form of relatedness is transformational. It is necessarily mediated by conversation consisting of more than its content, the simple transmission of information. The main point of the paper is that the form of the conversation manifests and constitutes not only a form of consciousness but also a form of relatedness. This conception provides a means of testing hypotheses of therapeutic action since it suggests that syntactical structuring, together with the other major elements of language, lexicon, and phonology, allow us to chart the waxings and wanings of personal being in the therapeutic conversation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychotherapy supervisor's development (i.e., the unfolding process of growth in being and becoming a supervisor) has long been considered a substantive issue in clinical supervision. Theory and clinical wisdom suggest that supervisors' level of development can have a significant and far-reaching impact on the supervision experience, potentially affecting supervisory alliance formation, in-session conceptualization and strategy utilization, and even the outcomes experienced by both supervises and patients. Consensus seems to be that there is a critical need for empirical study of psychotherapy supervisor development. But with a generation of theory and research on psychotherapy supervisor development behind us, what do we know (or not know); where does this area of inquiry stand today, and what do we need to know about supervisor development going forward? In this paper, I attempt to address those questions. I examine the last 30-year period (approximately) of supervisor development theory, measurement, and quantitative and qualitative study, provide a contemporary status report of sorts on this subject; and identify some important matters for research and practical consideration. Despite a generation of inquiry, the psychotherapy supervisor still remains the largely unknown party in the supervision experience. But that long-standing reality can be changed, some possibilities for doing so are presented, and the promise of supervisor development study is seen to be an ever-inviting hope that awaits realization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the constructs of the working alliance, parallel process, and counter-transference have long had transtheoretical appeal for many supervision practitioners, what empirical data-quantitative or qualitative-are there that support their use in psychotherapy supervision? In this paper, I attempt to address that question by: (1) identifying empirical, data-based efforts to research the supervisory working alliance (n=17), parallel process (n=7), and countertransference (n=1); (2) reviewing and determining for each study sample characteristics, measures used, procedure, analyses used, findings, and limitations; (3) identifying the primary conclusions that can be drawn from that review and analysis; and (4) considering the implications and directions for future supervision research and practice. While the data appear strongest for the supervisory working alliance and tentatively support its place in psychotherapy supervision, research on alliance, parallel process, and countertransference is still very much in its infancy and sorely limited empirically. Some avenues for remedying previous study deficiencies are presented, and the hope and caution of future research on these constructs are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elvin Semrad was among the most influential and beloved teachers of psychotherapy in his generation. His legacy as a clinician, teacher, and mentor is still felt today, even among those who never knew him directly. What and how he taught remains as relevant as ever in the psychotherapeutic care of troubled individuals. His was primarily a psychiatry of affects and bodily feelings, and he focused uncannily and empathically on the patient's experience. The basis of his rich, heartfelt, wise, and inimitable approach was not just classically psychoanalytic, or existential, or ego-oriented, or self-psychological, or interpersonal-relational, or even humanistic or adaptational. Rather, it was all of these in a uniquely "Semradian" integration geared toward elucidating patients' experience that had arrested them during their life course and their avoidance of "acknowledging, bearing, and putting into perspective" what they were up against. This paper describes who he was and gives a personal perspective on his influence--how and what he taught and why he had such an effect on those who knew him. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to locate, understand, and interpret the transference state of some patients In the course of psychoanalytic treatment. This paper examines the use of the countertransference to assist in making "analytic contact," the analyst's attempt to engage the patient in an exploration of unconscious phantasies, transference patterns, defenses, and internal experience of the world. The goal of analytic contact is the identifying, understanding, and working through of core object relational phantasy states. Countertransference can be valuable in helping analysts find their way to the transference, especially when projective identification processes exclusively shape it. Case material, examined from a Kleinian perspective, is used to show work with patients exhibiting difficult to access transference states primarily determined by projective identification based phantasies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often describe a longstanding depression or dysphoria central to the disorder. The dimension of chronic inner dysphoria is reflected in the DSM criterion of "emptiness" and is demonstrated on self-report measures of depression. In this paper, we report on outcomes for patients with BPD treated with outpatient psychodynamic psychotherapy based on the Conversational Model. Data were collected using the Zung depression scale and the Westmead severity scale at 1 year and at 2 years from two groups of patients. One group had 1 year in psychotherapy, the other had 2 years in therapy. While general symptom scores improved steadily over time in the two-year group, gains for the one-year group tapered off in the second year. Change in depression scores continued at an unchanged rate in the second year for the two-year group compared to a leveling out of gains in the group treated for one year. Gains in general symptom scores were more substantial, suggesting that change in affect occurs more slowly than other symptomatic changes. Drawing upon our findings and those of others in the field, it appears that this slowness of affective change may reflect that patients with BPD have an inner world where predominant negative affectivity became established early in life in the context of disturbances of relatedness. This has implications for the appropriate duration of psychotherapeutic engagement with this group. We argue for more prolonged psychotherapy in this group, which is consistent with current understanding of processes of attachment and development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attachment styles impact relationships. Research illustrates the importance of attachment from infancy to adulthood across all cultures. The focus of this paper is to explore attachment theory within the context of the therapeutic process with the inclusion of multicultural implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The psychiatric consultation has not been adequately exploited as a therapeutic device. Although, the original abstinent model for psychodynamic psychotherapy has become more flexible, passive listening with interventions to elicit diagnostic "data" remains the prevailing mode in psychiatric consultation. In this paper I develop the idea of the consultation as an active process (Viederman, M., 2002) that engages the patient emotionally for therapeutic effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews neuroscientific advances across the therapeutic disciplines and outlines new potential insights into understanding the biology of the psychotherapeutic processes. In a quest to understand the modus operandi of psychotherapy, the author reviews the evolution of the biology of psychotherapy. The mechanisms involved in learning processes, such as memory and priming, attachment, and long-term consequences of early life trauma, demonstrate how brain structures can be affected by environmental changes. Finally, the author proposes that verbal and non-verbal aspects of the psychotherapeutic process mediate their therapeutic effects through biological changes as they work on primitive emotional reflexes and stimulate mentalization processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Effective intercultural psychotherapy generally has been conceptualized in terms of a specific knowledge and skills base, combined with relevant attention to the practitioner's cultural attitudes and beliefs. Although such an approach continues to be the gold standard in the field, it has yet to be demonstrated that these components are either necessary or sufficient for effective treatment. This paper presents an approach to intercultural therapy based on Gadamer's philosophical hermeneutics. Humans are always in the process of making sense of the world around them, a process which is predicated on culturally given preunderstandings. Cultural difference means that the preunderstandings are rarely mutual, and therefore, communication and psychotherapy are often problematic. These preunderstandings often show up in the form of racial and ethnic prejudice and the therapist is rarely aware of this. Therapist preunderstanding influences all aspects of the psychotherapy process, such as treatment planning interventions chosen, and the therapeutic relationship. Recommendations are given for improving the intercultural therapy process, and draw strongly on the twin notions of the dialogical relationship and cultural imagination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of learning to conduct psychotherapy is extremely challenging, especially in the initial stages. It is not inappropriate for the novice to seek concrete guidance as to how to proceed in the initial work with the patient. Unfortunately, however, the therapist in training may be daunted by the psychodynamic/psychoanalytic literature, which is highly theoretical and bewildering in its diversity. The following material is a compilation of psychotherapy "pearls" that the authors have distilled from the psychotherapy literature, supervision with senior colleagues, and their own clinical experience.(n1) This article is intended as a primer of some technical aspects of psychodynamic work. An attempt has been made to select facets of technique that seem surprising to the inexperienced, as they are different from other types of conventional discourse. The authors have chosen to use "he" instead of "he/she" or "them" to make the paper stylistically more palatable. A bibliography is presented at the end as a guide for the beginning reader. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of psychotherapy papers from Scandinavia and Finland. 'Severe Vaginismus as the Reason for Unconsummated Marriage of 11 years' Duration,' by Reima Kampman and Antti Kauppila; 'Stigma and Identity,' by Nikolaj-Klaus von Kreitor; 'On the Effects of Milieu Therapy,' by Hakan Jenner.