Doing Psychotherapy

Here is a practical guide to doing psychotherapy which, unlike most other manuals that present an idealized view of the therapist-patient relationship, shows what the therapeutic encounter is really like. Using detailed excerpts from clinical protocols, and without omitting the inevitable mistakes that a therapist will make, Dr. Basch draws the reader into the therapeutic dialogue as a way of experiencing what actually happens in the course of treatment with cases of varying complexity.The author focuses on the treatment of the kind of patients who, though likely to make up the majority of a therapist’s practice, are generally ignored in training guides—those who are not acutely disturbed, whose pathology is minimal, but whose personal relationships are usually troubled, unsatisfying, and frequently destructive. Dr. Basch’s approach, developed over twenty years of practicing and teaching psychotherapy, is dynamic and analytic in that he considers the management of the transference relationship as basic to the treatment process. however, he avoids the rigidities often associated with the classical psychoanalytic position and does not hesitate to incorporate into his teaching methods techniques associated with other “schools” of therapy. Throughout, he stresses building on the patient’s strengths rather than searching for pathology.This wise and useful book not only will prove invaluable to all beginning psychotherapists—whether their background is one of psychiatry, psychology, or social work—but will also serve as an ideal refresher for those more experienced in clinical work.