1st Edition

Core Competencies in Brief Dynamic Psychotherapy Becoming a Highly Effective and Competent Brief Dynamic Psychotherapist

By Jeffrey L. Binder, Ephi J. Betan Copyright 2013
    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    232 Pages
    by Routledge

    This book addresses the essential clinical competencies required to conduct brief dynamic therapy. Authors Jeffrey L. Binder and Ephi J. Betan discuss the conceptual foundation of their treatment model, and the application of this framework in forming and maintaining a therapeutic alliance, assessment, case formulation, implementing a treatment plan, termination, and treatment evaluation. All topics include a multicultural perspective and sensitivity to ethical issues. Binder and Betan attempt to bridge practice and research by consistently incorporating relevant research findings.  Graduate students in the mental health fields and beginning therapists will find in this text the basic concepts and principles of brief dynamic psychotherapy presented in a clear and straightforward style, with many clinical examples drawn from detailed patient and therapist interchanges. Seasoned psychotherapists will find in Binder and Betan’s discussions of case formulation and therapeutic discourse a fresh treatment of classic ideas about the therapeutic value of constructing personal narratives.  At all times, the authors explicitly tie the components of their approach to the competencies required of the brief dynamic therapist. In the current environment of accountability for results, attention is given to the ongoing assessment of therapeutic progress and ultimate outcomes. This text is a scholarly yet practical guide to the evidence-based practice of brief dynamic psychotherapy.

    Chapter 1, Introducing the Clinical Competencies of Brief Dynamic Psychotherapy: Begins with two related definitions of generic competence, and evolves into a discussion of the current consensus in the field of psychotherapy about the nature of intervention competence, as well as identified learning outcomes for each stage of training to competent therapist performance.
    Chapter 2, Understanding the Conceptual Basis of Brief Dynamic Psychotherapy: Provides a coherent conceptual framework for understanding personality functioning and malfunctioning as well as the process by which beneficial personal change occurs with corresponding reduction of symptoms and problematic behavior.
    Chapter 3, Forming an Effective Therapeutic Alliance: Presents the generic components of an evidence-based definition of the therapeutic alliance, then examines the components of the alliance required for successful brief dynamic therapy.
    Chapter 4, Maintaining an Effective Therapeutic Alliance: Discusses particularly important skills associated with supporting a positive alliance. Also teaches the reader about identifying indications of “misalliances” and alliance ruptures, as well as how to rectify such ruptures.
    Chapter 5, Performing an Integrative BDP Assessment: This chapter will describe in detail the major domains of psychodynamic assessment, and recommend strategies for eliciting key information for a psychodynamic case conceptualization.
    Chapter 6, Developing a BDP Case Conceptualization and Intervention Plan: Articulates the importance of case conceptualization as the framework for implementing other skills and activities in clinical practice, including ongoing assessment, identifying treatment goals, meaning making and interpretation, clinical decision making and intervention, and interpersonal as well as multicultural sensitivity.
    Chapter 7, Implementing BDP Strategies and Interventions: Reviews the changes in conceptions of and strategies for addressing transference and countertransference enactments in brief dynamic therapy. Also proposes an alternative intervention strategy based on thorough clinical inquiry that facilitates the construction and deconstruction of a personal narrative representing the therapeutic focus.
    Chapter 8, Monitoring and Evaluating Clinical Outcomes: Discusses a strategy that has been developed through programmatic research for systematic monitoring treatment progress through the use of a psychometrically sound, multidimensional measurement tool that is practical for use in ordinary clinical practice.
    Chapter 9, Planning for Termination and Maintaining Treatment Gains: Reviews the relationship between termination and brief treatment outcome, in order to determine whether the traditional presumption about the role of termination is supported or an alternative view is indicated.
    Chapter 10, Practicing BPD with Cultural and Ethical Sensitivity: Highlights how the interpersonal and subjective dimensions of clinical practice constitute and inform a clinician’s engagement with patients.
    Chapter 11, Becoming a Highly Effective and Competent BDP Therapist: Discusses the widely used format for psychotherapist training and applies instructional concepts and principles from cognitive psychology to identify fundamental deficiencies in this training format. The authors also review what has been learned from manualized research about the strengths and deficiencies of current therapist training methods, as well as recommendations for improving them.

    Biography

    Jeffrey L. Binder, PhD, ABPP, is Professor of Psychology at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University. Dr. Binder has extensively published and presented on the topics of brief psychotherapy practice, training, and research, and the nature and development of clinical expertise.

    Ephi J. Betan, PhD, is Professor of Psychology at the Georgia School of Professional Psychology, Argosy University. Dr. Betan has published and presented in the areas of professional ethics, multicultural competence, countertransference, relational psychoanalysis, clinical expertise in psychotherapy, and psychotherapy training.

    “Guided by their overarching conceptual vision of brief dynamic psychotherapy, Drs. Binder and Betan synthesize the relevant theoretical, empirical, and clinical strands of the psychotherapy literature to yield a seamless and elegantly coherent account of the specific core competencies required for effective psychotherapy practice from start to finish.” - Eugene W. Farber, PhD, ABPP, From the Foreword

    "The ideal reader is one who is already interested in psychodynamic therapy and is
    seeking more techniques and ways of conceptualizing practice. The reader looking to learn
    about or to review the core competencies of brief dynamic therapy will find this book
    comprehensive, clear, and well grounded in empirical literature."
    -Derek Truscott & Kellsey Calhoon, PsycCRITIQUES

    “Drs. Jeffrey Binder and Ephi Betan are not only experts in Brief Dynamic Psychotherapy, they are experts in clinical training, having many years experience in the education and training of doctoral students in clinical psychology.”Philinda Smith Hutchings, PhD, ABPP, Professor and Director of Clinical Training, Clinical Psychology Program, Midwestern University, Illinois

    “This book is exceptionally clear and sophisticated in conveying the subtle interplay of theory and practice in brief dynamic psychotherapy. Based in current studies and concepts of expertise and competence, it constitutes a superb training guide for novice and experienced clinicians who wish to learn how to conduct this essential mode of psychotherapy.” - Stanley B. Messer, PhD, Dean and Professor II, Graduate School of Applied and Professional Psychology, Rutgers University, New Jersey

    “In this volume, Core Competencies in Brief Dynamic Psychotherapy, Jeffrey Binder and Ephi Betan offer the reader a compendium of knowledge, methods, and therapeutic frameworks necessary for conducting effective brief dynamic psychotherapy. This is a must read for students, as well as advanced practitioners who want an up to date resource. The volume includes abundant case material, which gives the reader intimate insight into the therapeutic process revealing the power of focal dynamic psychotherapy. Binder and Betan integrate the latest findings in clinical science and demonstrate the process of effective brief dynamic psychotherapy." - Jeffrey J. Magnavita, Ph.D., ABPP, Previous President of the Division of Psychotherapy of the American Psychological Association, Fellow, American Psychological Association