There is an old (but in many ways sad) joke about two clinicians--actually, the way I first heard the story, it was two psychiatrists.  The point of the story is the same regardless of the discipline of the provider.  Anyway, two therapists meet in the hallway after a long day spent meeting ...
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On August 25th, right here on the "Top Performance" blog, I announced the formation of the International Center for Clinical Excellence.  As anyone who has been reading my recent posts or publication knows, my work is evolving; specifically, putting prior research on the common factors, measurement of outcome and alliance, and ...
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Greg Neimeyer, Ph.D., is causing quite a stir in continuing education circles.  What has he done?  In several scholarly publications, he's reviewed the existing empirical literature and found that continuing professional education in heavioral health is not particularly, well, ...educational.  Indeed, in a soon-to-be published piece in the APA journal, Professional Psychology, he notes, ...
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Since the 1960's, over 10,000 "how-to" book on psychotherapy have been published.  I joke about this fact at my workshops, stating "Any field that needs ten thousand books to describe what it's doing...surely doesn't know what its doing!" I continue, pointing out that, "There aren't 10,000 plus books on 'human anatomy,' for ...
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Not too long ago, my colleagues and I published some preliminary thoughts and findings from our research into "Supershrinks." That differences in effectiveness exist between clinicians is neither surprising or new.  Indeed, "therapist effects"--as they are referred to in the research literature--have been documented for decades and rival the contribution ...
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Image via Wikipedia "History doesn't repeat itself," the celebrated American author, Mark Twain once observed, "but it does rhyme." No better example of Twain's wry comment than recurring claims about specifc therapeutic approaches. As any clinician knows, every year witnesses the introduction of new treatment models.  Invariably, the developers ...
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Mark your calendars!  The International Center for Clinical Excellence is pleased to announce the “Achieving Clinical Excellence” (ACE) conference to be held at the Westin Hotel in Kansas City, Missouri on October 20-22nd, 2010. K. Anders Erickson, Ph.D., the editor of The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance and recognized ...
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For years, my colleagues and I have been using the phrase "practice-based evidence" to refer to clinicians' use of real-time feedback to develop, guide, and evaluate behavioral health services. Against a tidal wave of support from professional and regulatory bodies, we argued that the "evidence-based practice"--the notion that certain treatments ...
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In 1985, I was starting my second year as a doctoral student at the University of Utah.  Like thousands of other graduate students, I'd watched the "Gloria" films.  Carl Roger, Albert Ellis, Fritz Perls were all impressive if not confusing given their radically different styles.  I also knew that I would soon have the opportunity ...
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For those of you are friends with me on Facebook (and if you’re not already, please do as it’s a blast), you know I was teaching at the 41st Annual Southwestern School for Behavioral Health Studies. First, let me express my appreciation to the Board and Michelle Brown for ...
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What causes change in psychotherapy?  Specific treatments applied to specific disorders?  Those in the "evidence-based" say so and have had a huge influence on behavioral healthcare policy and reimbursement.  Over the last 10 years, my colleagues and I have written extensively and traveled the world offering a different perspective: by and large, the ...
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As those of you who have followed my work and blog know, my perspective is evolving.  The direction I’m heading builds on all of the work done to date including the common factors, measurement of outcome and alliance, and feedback.  Crucially, however, it goes one step further; bridging the common ...
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If you've been following my website and the Top Performance Blog you know that my professional interests over the last couples of years have been shifting, away from psychotherapy, the common factors, and feedback and toward the study of expertise and excellence. Studying this literature (click here for an interesting ...
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So what is the first step to improving your performance?  Simply put, knowing your baseline.  Whatever the endeavor, you have to keep score.  All great performers do.  As a result, the performance in most fields has been improving steadily over the last 100 years. Consider, for instance, the Olympics. Over ...
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Most of my career has been spent providing and studying psychotherapy.  Together with my colleagues at the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, I've now published 8 books and many, many articles and scholarly papers.  If you are interested you can read more about and even download many of ...
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