Deconstruction of Psychotherapy [Paperback]

Bryam T. Karasu (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 1568218214 | ISBN-13: 978-1568218212

Psychotherapists have a love-hate relationship with theories, often clinging to those that are unsatisfying and incomplete. Deconstruction of Psychotherapy examines the functions and failings of theory, and, most critically for clinicians, the gap between theory and practice. It looks at the purposes and perils of ardent allegiances irrespective of a particular school or strategy. This means examining the many uses and abuses of the clinician's belief system. While therapists need to be committed to a body of beliefs, an inability to look beyond it can be countertherapeutic; hiding behind a theory may be as bad as not having one to relinquish. Moreover, deconstruction of the positive and negative elements of theory reveals therapists' uncertainty as they acknowledge that one of their compasses resides somewhere between myth and truth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

In Dr. Karasu's hands the modern penchant for historical deconstruction becomes a powerful instrument for the analysis and clarification of the bewildering variety of clinical procedures currently labeled 'psychotherapy.' His tripartite categorization of those procedures as 'dynamic,' 'behavioral,' and 'experiential' provides the basis for his further delineation of the specific features that the individual psychotherapies share in common on the one hand, and that on the other, define each as a distinct entity in its own right. In so doing, Dr. Karasu has fashioned a detailed and illuminating map of the current jungle of proliferating psychotherapies that will serve as an invaluable guide for clinicians and investigators alike.

In a scholarly overview of the major trends of contemporary psychotherapy, Dr. Karasu offers the reader a clear and comprehensive synthesis of the essential aspects of psychodynamic, behavioral, and experiential psychotherapeutic approaches. His deconstructive methodology naturally leads to a focus on major controversies affecting this field and the relevant research questions derived from these controversies. While critically exploring contemporary theories of mind, Dr. Karasu raises challenging questions about the relationship between theory and practice, between specific and non-specific effects of psychotherapeutic interventions, and between clinical practice and research in psychotherapy. The reader may agree or not with Dr. Karasu's rejection of allmajor present theory formulations, but will be enriched by the fundamental questions posed in this book. For the psychiatric resident, the practicing psychotherapist, and the mental health professional facing the contemporary psychotherapeutic scene, this volume offers a clarifying and organizing perspective on the essential tenets of competing theories, the corresponding research approaches, and a thoughtful and wise proposal regarding crucial common therapeutic factors across the wide spectrum of curre (Otto F. Kernberg )

In a scholarly overview of the major trends of contemporary psychotherapy, Dr. Karasu offers the reader a clear and comprehensive synthesis of the essential aspects of psychodynamic, behavioral, and experiential psychotherapeutic approaches. His deconstructive methodology naturally leads to a focus on major controversies affecting this field and the relevant research questions derived from these controversies. While critically exploring contemporary theories of mind, Dr. Karasu raises challenging questions about the relationship between theory and practice, between specific and non-specific effects of psychotherapeutic interventions, and between clinical practice and research in psychotherapy. The reader may agree or not with Dr. Karasu's rejection of all major present theory formulations, but will be enriched by the fundamental questions posed in this book. For the psychiatric resident, the practicing psychotherapist, and the mental health professional facing the contemporary psychotherapeutic scene, this volume offers a clarifying and organizing perspective on the essential tenets of competing theories, the corresponding research approaches, and a thoughtful and wise proposal regarding crucial common therapeutic factors across the wide spectrum of current psychotherapies. (Otto F. Kernberg )

About the Author

T. Bryam Karasu, M.D., is a Professor of Psychiatry at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. He served as Chairman of the American Psychiatric Association's Commission on Psychiatric Therapies and of its Task Force on Treatment of Psychiatric Disorders.

Product Details

• Paperback: 160 pages
• Publisher: Jason Aronson, Inc. (October 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1568218214
• ISBN-13: 978-1568218212
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,749,152 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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