Developing the Therapeutic Relationship: Integrating Case Studies, Research, and Practice

In this book, master clinicians and psychotherapy researchers examine how technique and the therapeutic relationship are inseparably intertwined, and engaging case studies demonstrate how successful therapists negotiate this complex relationship.

What makes therapy work? Clearly, the therapeutic alliance is an important component of a successful relationship between therapist and client, but how does it fit into the relationship more broadly conceived? A better question might be “What works with whom and in which circumstances?’      
 
Using a variety of theoretical and research “lenses” and drawing on various models of psychotherapy, including psychodynamic therapy, cognitive–behavioral therapy, emotion‑focused therapy, and brief family therapy, the contributors discuss the factors affecting client outcomes. The link between relationship processes and technique is bought to life in a rich array of engaging case studies that demonstrate how successful therapists negotiate the relationship, make key moment‑to‑moment decisions, and promote positive change in their clients.
 

Orya Tishby, PsyD, received her master’s degree from Hebrew University and doctorate from Rutgers, where she received the 1991 Best Dissertation Award from the New Jersey Psychological Association. She is an associate professor in clinical psychology and clinical social work, Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Israel, and is the former director of the Hebrew University Psychological Services. She is head of the clinical psychology graduate program, and clinical faculty at the School of Social Work and Social Welfare, as well as the director of the Freud Center for Research in Psychoanalysis. Dr. Tishby practices and supervises long- and short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy, and her research focuses on the therapeutic relationship and countertransference. She is coeditor (with Hadas Wiseman) of The Therapeutic Relationship: Innovative Investigations.
 
Hadas Wiseman, PhD, completed her doctorate in clinical psychology at York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. She received clinical training at the Clark Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto, and at the Psychological Services at Hebrew University, where she also completed her postdoctorate. She is currently a professor in the Department of Counseling and Human Development, Faculty of Education, at the University of Haifa, Israel, and chair of the doctoral studies committee of the Department of Counseling and Human Development. Dr. Wiseman is also on faculty in the Weiss–Livnat International MA Program in Holocaust Studies, University of Haifa. Her scholarly work and research has focused on psychotherapy process, the therapeutic relationship, attachment and relationship patterns in psychotherapy, personal and professional development of psychotherapists, and intergenerational trauma and interpersonal relationships in families of Holocaust survivors. She served as president of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research. She coauthored (with Jacques P. Barber) Echoes of the Trauma: Relational Themes and Emotions in Children of Holocaust Survivors and coedited (with Orya Tishby) The Therapeutic Relationship: Innovative Investigations. Dr. Wiseman is a certified clinical psychologist in private practice in Kiryat Tivon, Israel.