Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change [Paperback]

Michael Alpert (Author), David Malan (Author), Leigh McCullough (Author), Robert J. Neborsky (Author), Francine Shapiro (Author), Marion Solomon (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0393703339 | ISBN-13: 978-0393703337 | Publication Date: July 2001 | Edition: 1

Is it possible to effect deep, lasting, meaningful psychological change in a short period of time?

Can the effects of early childhood traumas—traumas that may have seemed small at the time but that have affected personality development—be overcome in short-term therapy? Here, leaders in the field of short-term therapy present a definitive statement on state-of-the-art intensive dynamic short-term psychotherapy.

While they have approached these questions from different perspectives, the renowned practitioners in this book note points of contact and overlap among their ideas about the underlying causes of depression, maladjustment, marital discord, character pathology, and posttraumatic stress disorders. Each outlines the precise methods he or she uses with patients to create emotional growth and reintegration, illustrating these with cases and transcripts. Their methods can be proven scientifically valid, taught to others, and reliably reproduced by effectively trained psychotherapists with a wide variety of patients.

Readers will find variations on the theme of short-term therapy for long-term change. Habib Davanloo was a colleague of Malan’s and has influenced Neborsky, Alpert, and McCullough. While Neborsky has devoted himself to refining and presenting clearly Davanloo’s theory and method, Alpert has developed a method of accelerated empathic treatment and McCullough has designed an anxiety-regulating therapy that is the subject of several research studies. Solomon has applied dynamic theories to treatment of intimate relationships. Shapiro, using EMDR, approaches Big-T and small-t traumas in what seems initially a quite different way but is shown ultimately to have many similarities to short-term dynamic psychotherapy.

With this basis in research and clinical practice, the theories and methods presented here have the potential to revolutionize psychodynamic psychotherapy.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Alpert, M.D., M.P.H., is the Director of the STDP Institute of New York and New Jersey and Medical Director of the St. Clare’s Hospital Behavioral Health Service.

David Malan participated in Michael Balint’s original team investigating brief psychotherapy and collaborated for many years with Habib Davanloo.

Leigh McCullough, Ph.D., is Clinical Assistant Professor and Director of the Short-term Psychotherapy Research Program at Harvard Medical School.

Robert J. Neborsky, M.D., is Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at UCSD School of Medicine.

Francine Shapiro, Ph.D., the originator and developer of EMDR, is a senior research fellow at the Mental Research Institute in Palo Alto, CA.

Marion Solomon, Ph.D., is a lecturer at the David Geffen School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry at UCLA, and Senior Extension faculty at the Department of Humanities, Sciences and Social Sciences at UCLA. She is also director of clinical training at the Lifespan Learning Institute and author of Narcissism and Intimacy, co-author of Short Term Therapy For Long Term Change, and co-editor of Countertransference in Couples Therapy and Healing Trauma.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company; 1 edition (July 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0393703339
• ISBN-13: 978-0393703337
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #730,277 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Science of Dynamic Psychotherapy, May 11, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change (Paperback)

I found this book to be a remarkable and consise description of a complicated topic. The authors summarized the state of the field of short term dynamic therapy. They held no information back and identified the areas of controversy, particularly conflicting opinions and data on the use of confrontation in the Davanloo approach versus the approach preferred by McCullough and Alpert. Furthermore, the inclusion of EMDR as a dynamic treatment was inovative and exciting. Neborsky and Solomon's chapter on "Changing the Love Imprint" explained how EMDR and the STDP's may have a common therapeutic action, which was helpful to me as was their integration of attachment theory. Finally, David Malan's chapter on the science of outcome evaluation and what we might learn from his career was an inspiration to read. I hope this group continues to write and create more material for clinicians like this!

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Rosetta Stone of Psychotherapies, September 11, 2001

By 

Linda C. Gilbert, Ph.D. (Palmdale, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change (Paperback)

This is a book that is bound to improve the psychotherapeutic skills of practitioners who read it. For those unfamiliar with recent developments in the dynamic short-term therapy movement, it convincingly dispels the concept of "non-specific factors" in treatment outcome. For those more familiar with the authors it reveals the pivotal foci to which they attend while using disparate appearing techniques in their treatments. Surprisingly, the reader would be hard pressed to find another volume that similarly stresses the importance of developing therapy techniques to fit one's personality instead of one's theoretical orientation. Michael Alpert's system focuses on the therapist's affection for the patient and the patient's response. Robert J. Neborsky presents Habib Davanloo's method of accessing defended impulses and feelings. Leigh McCullough's approach is to desensitize "affect phobia" (an expression becoming standard in the lexicon of psychotherapy). Marion F. Solomon has incorporated short-term theories and techniques for use in couples therapy. Francine Shapiro, whose eye movement desensitization techniques resulted in what initially appeared to be an almost purely behavioral treatment, here acknowledges the dynamic aspects of this method, recognizing that the significance of the trauma being desensitized is directly related to trauma suffered in early life attachments. There is frequent reference to the short-term work of Freud, Alexander and French, and others, putting this state of the art presentation in a clear historical perspective. The book concludes with a delightful chapter by David Malan, a pioneer in the short-term movement. His statistical references are fascinating rather than dry, citing study after study supporting the results of the dynamic short-term models. He directs the reader on how to make immediate use of the critical factors discussed by the authors. Practitioners of many different theoretical orientations stand to benefit from Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change. It directs therapists' attention to critical moments in treatment and provides various techniques for making the best use of these opportunities. The final goal of all the authors is to free patients or their debilitating symptoms thus allowing them to trust and experience their true feelings and impulses. This ultimately leads to a richer, enhanced ability to relate to the other important people in their lives.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Highly recommended, June 29, 2006

By 

Lynn H. Pierson "LHPierson,PhD." (Cincinnati, OH) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Short-Term Therapy for Long-Term Change (Paperback)

As a practicing psychologist, I am always looking for ways to improve the efficiency of psychotherapy. Not to satisfy managed care, but to alleviate the pain of my clients. All of us in clinical practice have encountered "difficult clients", those with whom what is helpful to many of our other clients just is not helpful. What does one do when traditional cognitive therapy is not helpful? In my experience, this is when a psychodynamic perspective is most useful. Such a perspective does not necessarily mean that years of psychoanalysis is required. Short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP)offers an alternative. The authors of this book provide the reader with an array of STPPs, varying from the more confrontive style originated by Davenloo, through "softer" modifications (but still focused), including one with a focus almost exclusively on conveying empathic understanding to the client (the first I had heard of what might be thought of as short-term Kohutian therapy). What I found most interesting was the inclusion in this volume of a chapter by Francine Shapiro on EMDR, which uniquely (but accurately, IMO) places EMDR in the short-term psychodynamic camp. I consider it a positive step to recognize that EMDR is the most non-intrusive (meaning non-interpretational) of the STPPs. Shapiro's language of "large T and small t traumas" fits in seamlessly with the primary theoretical underpinnings of these STPPs; namely, attachment theory and the developing infant/child.
Among other highlights in the book are chapters by David Malan, the pioneer in outcome research for STPP, and a fascinating chapter by Neborsky and Soloman offering the "missing link" in attachment theory (the "PASO", or primitive aggressive self organization). I would like to see more research demonstrating the ubiquity of the PASO, with it's emphasis on helping the client to experience repressed primitive rage in the therapy. It seems to be the shared opinion of several of the authors (though not necessarily Shapiro) that it is the reexperiencing of the anger component of the PASO that is necessary for optimal therapy outcome.
Nonetheless,I highly recommend this book to all practicing psychotherapists interested in increasing their effectiveness with their clients. By providing an alternative to Davanloo's confrontive style of STPP, the authors perform the valuable service of broadening both the clients and the therapists for whom STPP is indicated.