Introduction to the Technique of Psychotherapy: Practice Guidelines for Psychotherapists [Hardcover]

Samuel I. Greenberg (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

There are now many fine books on psychotherapy, but the author felt that a basic, simply written book, with a minimum of theory, would be helpful to the beginning therapist. This is a practical book that includes only the more important issues that he has learned in forty years of study, practice, and teaching. The author tells the reader how he conducts psychotherapy: by having a format in mind, taking a comprehensive history, and a careful, observing examination of the patient. He then advises on how to conduct psychotherapy with various patients and with special consideration of certain problems. The book is clear enough to instruct the beginning therapist, yet complicated enough to allow the experienced psychotherapist to gain a few ³pearls.² The emphasis is on individual, dynamic psychotherapy. Once these fundamentals are learned, then technical procedures from the other theoretical approaches that have proven helpful can be added to the therapist¹s repertoire. The author indicates that there are no pure forms of psychotherapy and that, in time, each therapist will develop her own style, depending on her temperament and training. Some techniques she will follow exactly, some will be modified and others rejected. Dynamic psychotherapy is based on these fundamental concepts, but the technique has been modified to conform to the scientific and economic temper of the times. If one follows Doctor Greenberg¹s psychotherapy, responds to case managers with words similar to those he gives the reader, and allows results with patients to demonstrate the efficacy, the therapist will get approvals and get paid for helping patients in this way.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 106 pages
• Publisher: Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0398069042
• ISBN-13: 978-0398069049
• Product Dimensions: 10.5 x 7.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,258,627 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning how to be with patients, November 1, 1999

By 

Richard A. Moskovitz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Introduction to the Technique of Psychotherapy: Practice Guidelines for Psychotherapists (Hardcover)

In an age that reveres technology and precision, it is refreshing to find a book that reminds us that psychotherapy is a deeply personal process. Dr. Greenberg brings to his writing a lifetime of experience listening to the music of the heart. He reminds us that therapy is as much art as science and that the heart of the process is one person listening patiently to another.

This brief and pithy volume covers the fundamentals of psychotherapy with remarkable clarity. Dr. Greenberg writes in a down-to-earth style that feels like you are having a conversation in his living room. He tells us how he conducts therapy and lets us in on what he is thinking in the process. He reminds us that while we may be concerned about what we are doing for our patients, the essence of treatment is being with them.

Having read books early in my training that focussed on the technical aspects of therapy, warning of a daunting array of pitfalls to be avoided, I wish I had had the opportunity then to be introduced to the art of therapy in the gentle and reassuring manner of this book. I recommend that anyone learning psychotherapy treat themselves to this volume. And since we are all continually learning, this book holds wisdom even for the most experienced among us.