Psychotherapy Process
Explore the dynamics and stages of the psychotherapy process, from the initial client assessment to the therapeutic interventions that promote healing. This section provides insights into the complexities of therapeutic relationships and strategies to enhance treatment effectiveness.
254 articles found
To Share or Not to Share
My Confusion About and Interest in Therapist Self-Disclosure (TSD) As I begin to establish my private practice, I have been reflecting on the evolution of my thoughts about and use of therapist self-disclosure (TSD), which I am using here to mean “therapist statements that reveal something personal about the therapist” (Hill & Knox, 2002, p. […]
Kristen G. Pinto-Coelho, Ph.D.
May 4, 2018
Teaching and Learning Evidence-Based Relationships
Introduction The following video series titled, Teaching and Learning Evidence-Based Relationships: Interviews with the Experts is brought to you by The Society for the Advancement of Psychotherapy/APA Division 29 and is a companion project to the third edition of Psychotherapy Relationships that Work. The overall goal of the project is to translate relationship research to teaching and learning, from the […]
Rayna D. Markin, Ph.D. + 1 more
March 15, 2018
Caucasian Therapist Self-Disclosure to Cultural Minority Clients
In offering further commentary to the article on Caucasian therapist self-disclosure to cultural minority populations, it is important to begin by more generally acknowledging both individual and between group differences. This is an important beginning because aspects of cultural competency are so often avoided as a larger subject through the statement ‘everyone is different.’ While […]
Graham Danzer, Psy.D.
March 11, 2018
The Role of Therapists Crying in Therapy
An important aspect of psychotherapy is the therapist’s reactions to his or her client during session (Kahn & Fromm, 2001; Summers & Barber, 2010). One type of emotional expression that has garnered interest throughout the psychological literature is the phenomenon of therapists crying with their patients (McWilliams, 1994; Alden, 2001; Summers & Barber, 2010; Guntrip, […]
Taylor Rodriguez, B.S. + 1 more
January 14, 2018
A Call for “Negotiation” in the Termination Process
Psychotherapy termination is that moment in which therapists and clients say goodbye (or “call me if you need me”). As part of the first author’s doctoral dissertation, we conducted a research study in which we asked former clients about their treatment. Surprisingly, when clients were asked about their treatment, many started the recount by addressing […]
Julieta Olivera + 2 more
January 7, 2018
Microaggressions in Psychotherapy
Microaggressions have been linked to reductions in psychological and physical health (Sue, 2010). The term racial microaggression is a term first utilized by Pierce (1970) to describe the subtle, jarring, typically automatic or unconscious, verbal and nonverbal exchanges; often perceived as understated, insulting “put downs” directed at people of color. Sue et al. (2007) did […]
TaShara D. Williams, M.A. + 2 more
December 30, 2017
Navigating the Minefield of Politics in the Therapy Session
If, indeed, the personal is political and the political is personal, where does that leave psychotherapists—whose profession is intensely personal—when clients voice strong political views counter to ours or when their political stress resonates with our own sense of a rending of the civic and cultural fabric of the country? In the aftermath of one […]
Patricia T. Spangler, Ph.D. + 3 more
December 30, 2017
Paying Attention to the Details
The past 100 years of psychotherapy research has sought not only to examine the efficacy and effectiveness of psychotherapy, but also to identify the causal mechanisms and processes underlying therapeutic change (Lambert, 2013; Wampold & Imel, 2015). The existing research on psychotherapy processes has provided us with a rich understanding of several variables that are […]
Joshua K. Swift, Ph.D.
November 6, 2017
What You Don’t Know Might Hurt You
Clients request, question, or reject information related to their diagnoses at various times, and in a myriad of ways (e.g., “My partner says I have Borderline Personality Disorder, do I?”, “My mood is all over the place! Do you think I’m bipolar?”, “Maybe it’s ADHD?”). At intake, clients seek clarification of the nature of their […]
Sara Beth Austin, M.A. + 1 more
August 6, 2017
Facilitate Memorable Terminations
Facilitate Memorable Terminations with Awareness, Courage and Love Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP), a contemporary contextual behavioral therapy grounded in empirically supported principles, harnesses the power of the therapeutic relationship and maximizes the therapist’s genuineness, compassion and effectiveness. FAP focuses on how therapists can notice and respond effectively to client daily-life problems when they also occur […]
Holly Yates, M.S., LPC + 3 more
July 30, 2017
Addressing and Managing Resistance with Internalizing Clients
Sigmund Freud originally described psychological resistance as a phenomenon wherein patients unconsciously “cling to their disease” through “tenacious” and “critical objections” in order to repress distressing thoughts, emotions and experiences as they are raised by the therapist (Freud, 1904; 1920; 1940). This understanding—a somewhat patronizing view that pitted expert doctor against oblivious patient—persisted in the […]
Sara Beth Austin, M.A. + 1 more
June 18, 2017
Ending Therapy
Termination of the Therapy Relationship As with all relationships, a therapeutic relationship has a beginning and an end. The end of a therapeutic relationship often offers an opportunity for the therapist and client to engage in the termination process, which can include looking back on the course of treatment, helping the client plan ahead and […]
Avantika Bhatia, Ph.D.
June 11, 2017