The Art and Science of Psychotherapy

Psychotherapy, like most other areas of health care, is a synthesis of scientific technique and artistic expression. The practice, like any other, is grounded in a series of standardized principles, theories, and techniques. Individual practitioners define themselves within the field by using these basic tools to achieve their therapeutic goals in novel ways, applying these rudimentary skills and guiding principles to each situation in new and exciting ways. Effective work can only be accomplished through a synthesis of the fundamental scientific methods and the creative application of these techniques, approaches, and strategies. In recognition of these two basic skill sets within the field, and acknowledging that they are often taught exclusively of each other, Dr. Hofmann and his co-editor have compiled a group of leading therapists to give insight into the creative side to psychotherapy. Central to this collection is the premise that a toolbox full of treatment approaches, no matter how comprehensive, is not enough to effectively reach your patients. The aim of this book is first to address the fundamental split between the researchers and scholars who use scientific methods to develop disorder-specific treatment techniques and those more clinically inclined therapists who emphasize the individual, interpersonal aspects of the therapeutic process. Ad secondly, once this polarization of approaches is clearly defined, contributors will systematically unearth and explore the variety of unspecific, subtle factors in psychotherapy that are often overlooked by even those therapists who are conscious of interpersonal theories. 18 chapters are broken up into three main sections, focusing on the client-therapist relationship, models of therapeutic change, and more specific issues that arise during therapy. Chapters will be written with a clear emphasis on the practical relevance to therapy and will include many case examples and excerpts of patient-clinician dialogues.