Drawing on contemporary evidence in the counselling and psychotherapy research field, this paper argues that there is growing support for a relationship-orientated approach to therapeutic practice. The paper reviews findings from a range of meta-analytical and individual studies which provide strong evidence for the centrality of relational…

Starting from the acknowledged gap between research and practice in child psychotherapy, this paper offers an historical perspective on the relation between these two activities, and suggests that qualitative approaches to research may offer new ways of bringing them together. After introducing the fundamental concepts of qualitative analysis,…

Qualitative analyses of 2 clients' psychotherapies (client centered and process-experiential) investigated the developmental progression from formulating a problem to achieving an understanding of it. The results elaborated one segment in the 8-stage Assimilation of Problematic Experiences Sequence (APES), through which problematic parts of a…

Research designed to establish the empirical underpinnings of psychotherapy relies heavily on arbitrary metrics, and researchers often do not know if clients receiving an evidence-based treatment have improved in everyday life or changed in a way that makes a difference, apart from the changes the arbitrary metrics may have shown. In other words,…

Increasingly, mobile technologies are used to gather diary data in basic research and clinical studies. This article considers issues relevant to the integration of electronic diary (ED) methods in clinical assessment. EDs can be used to gather rich information regarding clients' day-to-day experiences, aiding diagnosis, treatment planning,…

Despite the continuing expansion of psychotherapeutic training programmes within universities in the UK, very little has been written about the psychological strains which may be experienced by teams working within the context of higher education. This theoretical paper offers a psychoanalytic perspective on the location of such teams, drawing on…

Extinction of conditioned fear is an important model both of inhibitory learning and of behavior therapy for human anxiety disorders. Like other forms of learning, extinction learning is long-lasting and depends on regulated gene expression. Epigenetic mechanisms make an important contribution to persistent changes in gene expression; therefore,…

For Dr. William Glasser (1965), the world-famous originator of Reality Therapy, the first question that he generally asks of all those who seek his services is: "What do you want?" While seeking to acquire an answer to this inquiry, however, he strongly recommends that the therapist also "make friends with the client," so that the relationship is…

Whether symptomatic or asymptomatic, children labeled sexually abused are routinely offered treatment at considerable financial cost. One result of this is that mental health professionals are being charged with exploiting the problem of child sexual abuse (CSA). Is the routine provision of psychotherapy for children and adolescents labeled…

That two-thirds of depressed adults are resistant to medication has led to the addition of psychotherapy to treatment, but is medication necessary? Results are at least as good with psychotherapy alone, and the relapse rate is less. Handling of suicidal danger, sleep disorders, and common depressing issues in college students are discussed along…

This study investigated the quality and development of the therapeutic alliance as a mediator of change in schema-focused therapy (SFT) and transference-focused psychotherapy (TFP) for borderline personality disorder. Seventy-eight patients were randomly allocated to 3 years of biweekly SFT or TFP. Scores of both therapists and patients for the…

This paper explores some of the ways in which our insights into the pedagogy of postgraduate supervision may benefit from understanding some of the attributes of psychotherapy. It proposes that psychotherapy involves teaching and learning processes that can be fruitfully compared with the idealised pedagogical model of the dialectic. It develops…

Development of a shame-based identity, also known as "toxic shame," can significantly interfere with an adult's ability to form an intimate relationship with another. As adults find peace from their past using transactional analysis and mental imagery, they learn to empower themselves to form healthy, intimate relationships.

This project provides a comprehensive overview of the research literature on social anxiety disorder (SAD) in adolescents and concludes by offering a set of 10 group therapy lesson plans for SAD that therapists can use in their practice. The overview includes a description of social anxiety disorder and highlights various theories of anxiety. The…

This paper describes qualitative data regarding psychological factors that may affect gambling behavior among treatment-seeking pathological gamblers. Participants (n = 84) diagnosed with pathological gambling were treated in a clinical trial examining the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Qualitative data were collected from…