The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy: An Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice (Topics in General Psychiatry)

Malan, David H.

ISBN 10: 0306308959 / ISBN 13: 9780306308956

Published by Springer, New York

About this Item

Fine or Like New condition with a Very Good dust jacket. The covers are in great shape. The binding is tight. The interior pages are unmarked. There is a small abrasion on the front flyleaf. The dust jacket is a little scuffed and shows light shelf wear. The book will be carefully packaged for protection from heavy handling and the elements during shipment. Electronic USPS tracking issued free of charge.

Seller Inventory # 12793

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Frontier of Brief Psychotherapy: An Example of the Convergence of Research and Clinical Practice (Topics in General Psychiatry)
• Publisher: Springer, New York
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0306308959
• ISBN 13: 9780306308956
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: First Edition.
• Printing: First Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Dimensions: 9.5W x 6.5H x 1.25D inches 9.5 inches width by 6.5 inches height by 1.25 inches depth

About this title

Synopsis

When I was a psychiatric resident not long after the end of World War II, any patient with the wits to get himself to a psychiatric clinic was taken into long-term dynamically oriented psychotherapy. Regardless of his diagnosis or clinical need, he was seen once, twice, sometimes even more frequently a week in fifty-minute sessions. Face-to-face with the therapist, he was urged to free associate and to express his dreams, fantasies, and emotions to a usually passive listener in what often appeared to be a caricature of psychoanalysis. It was not psychoanaly­ sis, of course (although the differences were sometimes hard to define), but the aims were the same-to resolve psychic conflicts through in­ sight and to bring about an internal psychological change that would allow the individual to work more effectively and to make healthier and happier relationships. Enough patients improved with these techniques to reinforce our penchant for using them. We were somehow able to ignore the fact that because of the limitations of time many patients withered on the waiting list. And we were able to blame our frequent therapeutic f~ilures, not to mention the damaging regressions our narrowly re­ stricted techniques often induced, on the patient's unwillingness to cooperate. Procrustes's couch was as inflexible as his bed. Old customs die hard, and the mindless application of long-term therapy is still found in clinical situations where it is inappropriate or contraindicated. But change is in the air.