Understanding Therapeutic Action (Psychology Revivals): Psychodynamic Concepts of Cure

Most of the existing psychodynamic literature approaches the treatment process from one particular theoretical perspective or another. Yet, what contemporary psychotherapists need most is practical information that transcends individual perspectives. After all, they must be able to treat patients who suffer from structural conflict, structural deficit, and relational conflict, and they must be able to understand the theories of therapeutic action associated with these concepts of psychopathology in relation to one another. Originally published in 1996, Understanding Therapeutic Action: Psychodynamic Concepts of Cure both surveys different theories of therapeutic action and offers an integrative model of treatment. Editor Lawrence E. Lifson has brought together contributors who are among the leading theoreticians and practitioners of psychodynamic psychotherapy. Their chapters’ cover all the major perspectives on therapeutic action and are organized into sections covering structural and object relations theories; the self as the focus of therapeutic action; and an integrative approach to the concept of cure. The emphasis throughout is on the translation of theory into clinical practice, with attention given to the contributions of patient and therapist alike in the curative process. Providing clinicians with a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the different models of therapeutic action, this collection is an illuminating exercise in comparative psychotherapy and a valuable tool for enhancing the applicability and effectiveness of clinical work.

Table of Contents:
Contributors. Preface. Part 1: Therapeutic Structure and Structural Change 1 Anne Alonso Toward a New Understanding of Neutrality 2 William W. Meissner The Therapeutic Alliance and the Real Relationship in the Analytic Process 3 Arnold H. Modell Trauma, Memory, and the Therapeutic Setting 4 Otto F. Kernberg The Importance of Diagnosis in Facilitating the Therapeutic Action of Psychodynamic Psychotherapy of an Adolescent 5 Gerald Adler Transitional Objects, Selfobjects, Real Objects, and the Process of Change in Psychodynamic Psychotherapy Part 2: The Self as the Focus of the Therapeutic Action 6 I. Paul H. Ornstein and Anna Ornstein Some General Principles of Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy: A Self-Psychological Perspective 7 II. Anna Ornstein and Paul H. Ornstein Speaking in the Interpretive Mode and Feeling Understood: Crucial Aspects of the Therapeutic Action in Psychotherapy 8 Joseph D. Lichtenberg Mode of Therapeutic Action 9 Judith Guss Teicholz Optimal Responsiveness: Its Role in Psychic Growth and Change Part 3: An Integrative Approach to the Concept of Cure 10 Stephen A. Mitchell When Interpretations Fail: A New Look at the Therapeutic Action of Psychoanalysis 11 James M. Herzog The Therapeutic Action of Play in the Curative Process 12 Paul L. Russell Process with Involvement: The Interpretation of Affect 13 George G. Fishman Listening to Affect: Interpersonal Aspects of Affective Resonance in Psychoanalytic Treatment 14 Martha Stark From Structural Conflict to Relational Conflict: A Contemporary Model of Therapeutic Action. Index