The Therapeutic Process: A Clinical Introduction to Psychodynamic Psychotherapy

The Therapeutic Process attempts to present an informative, sequential, well-defined, and clinically rich guide to the process of psychodynamic psychotherapy. The book was specifically designed to have broad appeal and value, for the beginning clinician to more experienced clinician, or the clinician who also teaches students of psychoanalytic psychotherapy. For the beginning clinician, the book has many illustrative examples, and terms are well defined. For the long-time clinician, the book attempts to put clearly into words, what many of us have thought all along. This book arose from a series of lectures that were part of a course for the psychiatric residents at UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute and Hospital, as well as from the instruction of many therapists from other mental health disciplines. The challenge in the initial instruction of psychoanalytic psychotherapy is always to be able to introduce fundamental concepts and convey the importance of a solid theoretical background, while concurrently addressing the clinician's pressing desire and often immediate requirement to understand the clinical process. Novel heuristic models are described and illustrated in clinical vignettes, in order to quickly bring together clinical and theoretical terms with the practice and process of psychotherapy.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 The Goals of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Chapter 2 Initial Evaluation of the Patient Chapter 3 Formulation Chapter 4 Listening Chapter 5 Resistance and Defense Chapter 6 Transference Chapter 7 Empathy and Countertransference Chapter 8 Interpretations Chapter 9 Working Through Chapter 10 Termination

About the Author :
J. Mark Thompson is a training and supervising psychoanalyst and the director of education at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute. He is assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. He is in the private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Thompson is the author of The Stories We Tell Ourselves: Mentalizing Tales of Dating and Marriage. Candace Cotlove is a training and supervising psychoanalyst at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Institute and assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at the UCLA School of Medicine. Dr. Cotlove is in the private practice of psychiatry and psychoanalysis.

Review :
Readers who approach a new introductory textbook of psychodynamic psychotherapy with skepticism about finding freshness will be gratified by this effort by Thompson and Cotlove. The authors have created a multitheoretical and up-to-date textbook that succeeds in reaching their stated intended audiences: beginning and more experienced clinicians and those who teach psychoanalytic psychotherapy. The Therapeutic Process succeeds in many ways. Physically it is a tidy package of good publishing quality. It is a pleasure to read and read again. This book is strongly recommended as a teaching aid, especially for psychiatry resident courses and for analytic institute extension courses. The Therapeutic Process provides a broad context for an approach to the understanding of the development of character and to the development of the therapeutic process, all presented in a way that engages the reader while simultaneously elucidating complex ideas. Vast amounts of material are presented in a compelling and lucid narrative, and in a language that is available to the sophisticated patient, to trainees, and to educators of psychotherapy or psychoanalysis. The authors present different theoretical models with lucidity and balance, integrating models across many dimensions in the explanation of concepts such as transference, resistance and regression. Clinical vignettes then breathe life and humanity into these theoretical concepts. As with any excellent book, I was sorry when this one ended. In this uncommon introduction to the psychodynamic therapeutic process, Thompson and Cotlove bring a clarity of thought, an ease of expression, and a richness of clinical illustrations that make the cloudy clear and the difficult accessible. What is most striking is their integration of the breadth of modern pluralism with the depth of psychoanalytic dynamic experience, all in a way that carries the reader along. If there were a Merck Manual of the dynamic therapeutic process, this would be it.