Plug "psychotherapy" into the Amazon search engine and you get 60,000 hits for books, manuals, worksheets, and videos.  Clearly, when it comes to "how to do it," our field is rich with resources. However, if you enter the words, "failure in psychotherapy" the number drops to 75, less than 20 ...
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Have you heard of the "Baader-Meinhof" effect?  If not, I'm positive you'll soon be seeing evidence of it everywhere. That's what "it" is, by the way -- that curious experience of seeing something you've just noticed, been told of, or thought about, cropping up all around you.  So ... You buy ...
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Look at the picture to the left.  What do you see? In no time at all, most report a large face with deep set eyes and slight frown.   Actually, once seen, it’s difficult, if not impossible to unsee.  Try it.  Look away momentarily then back again. Once set in motion, ...
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I entered university an accounting major. My first year, I took all the recommended courses: accounting theory, fundamentals of financial and managerial accounting, and so on. I'd likely be sitting in an office balancing company ledgers or completing tax documents had I never met Hal Miller.  A Harvard-educated professor, Dr ...
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Take a good look at the photo to the left. Do you know this person? His name is Myron L. Fox, M.D., a graduate of the Albert Einstein School of Medicine. Still doesn't ring a bell? At one point, he was the one of the highest rated presenters on the ...
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My family and I had a frightening experience this past Memorial Day.  While driving through Indiana on the way home to Chicago, our mobile phones began to alert.  You know the sound -- part cicada, part microphone feedback, but louder.   "Tornado warning in this area." Not a watch, mind you, a ...
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It was a curious finding.  One we stumbled on quite by accident.  Highly effective therapists were more likely to contact their clients between visits than their more average peers.  We wondered whether such behavior might account, at least in part, for their superior retention rates and outcomes? Turns out, our ...
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Feedback-Informed Treatment (FIT) -- using measures to solicit feedback about progress and the quality of the therapeutic relationship -- is a transtheoretical, evidence-based approach.  The most recent research shows clients whose therapists use FIT on an ongoing basis are 2.5 times more like to experience benefit from treatment. But how ...
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Last week, I was preparing to leave the house and could not locate my keys.  Trust me when I say, it's embarrassing to admit this is not an infrequent occurrence. Logic and reason are always my first problem solving choices.  That's why I paused after looking in the kitchen drawer ...
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Over the last 10 days or so, I've been digesting a recently published article on the therapeutic alliance -- reading, highlighting, tracking down references, rereading, and then discussing the reported findings with colleagues and a peer group of fellow researchers.  It's what I do. The particular study has been on ...
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Recognize this?  Yours will likely look at bit different.  If you drive an expensive car, it may be motorized, with buttons automatically set to your preferences.  All, however, serve the same purpose. Got it? It's the lever for adjusting your car seat. I'm betting you're not impressed.   Believe it or ...
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Would you believe me if I told you there was a way you could more than double the chances of helping your clients?  Probably not, eh?  As I've documented previously, claims abound regaring new methods for improving the outcome of psychotherapy.  It's easy to grow cynical. And yet, findings from a ...
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Several weeks ago, the American Psychological Association (APA) released its latest in a series of practice guidelines for psychologists – this time for “Psychological Practice with Boys and Men.”  Prior years had seen guidelines focused on ethnicity, older adults, girls and women, LGBT, and “transgender and gender-non-conforming” persons. Curiously, despite ...
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I'm neither a great psychotherapist or surfer.  I love doing both, however. Turns out, the two share a fundamental similarity critical to successful execution; in a word, responsiveness. /rəˈspänsivnəs/ NOUN The quality of reacting quickly and positively. In surfing, you take advantage of the waves coming your way.  In psychotherapy, ...
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You've heard it said before.  Flying is the safest form of transportation. Facts back up the claim.  In fact, it's not even close.  In terms of distance traveled, the fatality rate per billion kilometers is .003, improving dramatically over the years.  Cars, by contrast, are almost 1,000 times more dangerous.  Still, since ...
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Nearly two decades have passed since I met Saul Rosenzweig at his home in St. Louis, Missouri.  He was well into his nineties and still working every day.  Truth is, I was surprised to learn he was still alive! In 1936, he'd penned an article --three and a half pages in ...
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