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

Malan, D. H.

ISBN 10: 0306308959 / ISBN 13: 9780306308956

Published by Plenum Pub Corp, New York, NY, 1981

About this Item

Topics In General Psychiatry; 6.5 X 1.25 X 9.5 inches; 373 pages; personal stamp from previous owner on front pastedown endpaper. Price stamp on front free endpaper. Minor rubbing and creasing on DJ. Very Good condition otherwise. No other noteworthy defects. No markings on text pages. ; - Your satisfaction is our priority. We offer free returns and respond promptly to all inquiries. Your item will be carefully cushioned in bubble wrap and securely boxed. All orders ship on the same or next business day. Buy with confidence.

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy An Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice
• Publisher: Plenum Pub Corp, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 1981
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306308959
• ISBN 13: 9780306308956
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition; Third Printing.
• Condition: Very Good+
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good-

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.