The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy : An Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice

David H. Malan

ISBN 10: 1468422227 / ISBN 13: 9781468422221

Published by Springer US, Springer US, 2012

About this Item

Druck auf Anfrage Neuware - Printed after ordering - When I was a psychiatric resident not long after the end of World War II, any patient with the wits to get himself to a psychiatric clinic was taken into long-term dynamically oriented psychotherapy. Regardless of his diagnosis or clinical need, he was seen once, twice, sometimes even more frequently a week in fifty-minute sessions. Face-to-face with the therapist, he was urged to free associate and to express his dreams, fantasies, and emotions to a usually passive listener in what often appeared to be a caricature of psychoanalysis. It was not psychoanaly sis, of course (although the differences were sometimes hard to define), but the aims were the same-to resolve psychic conflicts through in sight and to bring about an internal psychological change that would allow the individual to work more effectively and to make healthier and happier relationships. Enough patients improved with these techniques to reinforce our penchant for using them. We were somehow able to ignore the fact that because of the limitations of time many patients withered on the waiting list. And we were able to blame our frequent therapeutic f~ilures, not to mention the damaging regressions our narrowly re stricted techniques often induced, on the patient's unwillingness to cooperate. Procrustes's couch was as inflexible as his bed. Old customs die hard, and the mindless application of long-term therapy is still found in clinical situations where it is inappropriate or contraindicated. But change is in the air.

Seller Inventory # 9781468422221

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy : An Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice
• Publisher: Springer US, Springer US
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1468422227
• ISBN 13: 9781468422221
• Binding: Taschenbuch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 229W x 152H x 22D millimeters 229 millimeters width by 152 millimeters height by 22 millimeters depth
• Weight: 566 grams

About this title

Synopsis

When I was a psychiatric resident not long after the end of World War II, any patient with the wits to get himself to a psychiatric clinic was taken into long-term dynamically oriented psychotherapy. Regardless of his diagnosis or clinical need, he was seen once, twice, sometimes even more frequently a week in fifty-minute sessions. Face-to-face with the therapist, he was urged to free associate and to express his dreams, fantasies, and emotions to a usually passive listener in what often appeared to be a caricature of psychoanalysis. It was not psychoanaly­ sis, of course (although the differences were sometimes hard to define), but the aims were the same-to resolve psychic conflicts through in­ sight and to bring about an internal psychological change that would allow the individual to work more effectively and to make healthier and happier relationships. Enough patients improved with these techniques to reinforce our penchant for using them. We were somehow able to ignore the fact that because of the limitations of time many patients withered on the waiting list. And we were able to blame our frequent therapeutic f~ilures, not to mention the damaging regressions our narrowly re­ stricted techniques often induced, on the patient's unwillingness to cooperate. Procrustes's couch was as inflexible as his bed. Old customs die hard, and the mindless application of long-term therapy is still found in clinical situations where it is inappropriate or contraindicated. But change is in the air.