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Battles of the Comfort Zone: Modelling Therapeutic Strategy, Alliance, and Epistemic Trust —A Qualitative Study of Mentalization-Based Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder
AbstractWe propose a model for how therapeutic strategy, alliance, and epistemic trust interact to foster or hinder therapeutic processes. Four individual mentalization-based treatment (MBT) sessions were subjected to an in-depth qualitative comparison and interpretative phenomenological analysis. Two sessions had high adherence and quality ratings, and two exemplified low evaluations. The sessions were from an MBT program for patients with borderline personality disorder. The high-rated therapists were more prone to strategically identify and investigate maladaptive patterns, were more challenging, and brought the patient...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - January 22, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

The Integrative Positive Psychological Intervention for Depression (IPPI-D)
AbstractDespite the variety of empirically supported treatments for depression, many available evidence-based treatments do not satisfactorily promote or maintain clinically significant changes in patients. Moreover, treatments for depression have been primarily focused on reducing patients ’ symptoms or deficits and less concerned with building positive resources that seem to be of interest to depressed individuals. This paper describes a manualized protocol of a new empirically-validated positive psychological intervention for depression, the Integrative Positive Psychological Inte rvention for Depression, which incorp...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - January 2, 2019 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Nicholas W. Gelbar (Ed.): Adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder: A Clinical Handbook
(Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - December 17, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

The Psychodynamics of Performance Anxiety: Psychoanalytic Psychotherapy in the Treatment of Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Disorder
AbstractThe optimal treatment for Social Phobia/Social Anxiety Disorder (SP/SAD) remains an open question despite the existence of a variety of controlled studies, including randomized trials of cognitive behavioral and psychodynamic therapies. Moreover, individuals with Performance Anxiety, a colloquial term for SP/SAD, are typically treated by lay coaches and unlicensed practitioners, who focus on managing the symptoms of “stage fright.” This paper describes the psychodynamic (psychoanalytic psychotherapy) treatment of an individual with manifestations of SP/SAD in the realms of public speaking, musical performance, ...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - December 3, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Self-Awareness, Verbalization and New Meanings as the Heart and Soul of Significant Events in Existential Psychotherapy
This study aimed to qualitatively analyze the significant events that occur during existential psychotherapy sessions from the perspective of the patient. Ten patients completed the HAT —helpful aspects of therapy—shortly after existential psychotherapy sessions during existential psychotherapy treatment, which lasted 1 year and consisted of 48 sessions. The data were analyzed using grounded theory. The results emphasized the following categories: the promotion of self-awarenes s, the possibility of verbalizing experiences, and the deepening of meanings. In addition to emphasizing human relationships, the patients also...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - November 20, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Beyond the Borderline: Expanding Our Repertoire to Address Relational Patterns and Power Dynamics Attendant to Diverse Personality Disorders
AbstractA present challenge in our field is that diverse and frequently comorbid patterns of personality disorder are not sufficiently addressed by existing evidence-based treatments. Authors in the special section describe promising efforts to address this challenge, including case examples illustrating the utility of each approach. Each approach is consistent with evidence-based principles of change, suggesting the possibility of placing them together within a meta-theoretical integration frame (Magnavita and Anchin in Unifying psychotherapy: Principles, methods, and evidence from clinical science, Springer Publishing Co...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - October 11, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Strategic Symptom Displacement in Therapy of a Motor Conversion Disorder Comorbid with PTSD: Case Presentation
We present a case of a motor conversion disorder comorbid with posttraumatic stress disorder, where we designed a psychotherapeutic approach based on the Bayesian model of brain functioning, specifically, the Bayesian model of functional neurologic symptoms. The model posits that such symptoms are produced as a result of hyper-precise prior beliefs (priors). Priors can be both conscious and unconscious and exist at different levels from perceptual to cognitive. Decreasing their precision/rigidity may then alleviate the related symptoms. In accord with this rationale, we used cognitive, experiential, and behavioral interven...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - October 6, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

David A. Treleaven, Trauma-Sensitive Mindfulness: Practices for Safe and Transformative Healing
(Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy)
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 24, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

The Relationships Between Client Resistance and Attachment to Therapist in Psychotherapy
AbstractThrough the lens of contemporary views on client resistance and attachment theory, which underpins the role of security in psychotherapy, the present study examines the relation between client resistance and client attachment to therapist. Forty-six clients and 19 therapists in long-term psychotherapy completed the Client Attachment to Therapist Scale and a therapist-reported questionnaire for client resistance, respectively, in three different times including the therapist ’s summer holidays, so as to take into consideration the role of the therapist’s temporary absence as a real relationship component. Result...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 21, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Metacognitive Interpersonal Therapy for Personality Disorders: The Case of a Man with Obsessive –Compulsive Personality Disorder and Avoidant Personality Disorder
AbstractPersonality disorders have a deleterious impact on individual quality of life, and are associated with a significant social burden. Despite a broad range of presentations across the various personality disorders, clinical research has shown a strong bias toward borderline personality disorder. In contrast to the emotional dysregulation of borderline personality disorder, a number of personality disorders are characterised by emotional inhibition and alexithymia. Research increasingly suggests that these deficits in emotional regulation may be symptomatic of problems with metacognition —the ability to identify, un...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 12, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research

Expanding the Conceptualization of Outcome and Clinical Effectiveness
AbstractThere is a need for studies that advance our knowledge of therapist effectiveness, expanding the definition of what constitutes therapeutic success. In the present study, four aspects of clinical outcome were analyzed using a sample of highly experienced psychotherapists (mean years of experience as therapy practitioners  = 30) who also serve as clinical teachers. The four aspects were: (1) overall change in different outcome domains, including long-term outcome; (2) outcome with clinically distressed clients (i.e. clients above the level of clinical disturbance at pretreatment); (3) level of drop-out; and (4) ...
Source: Journal of Contemporary Psychotherapy - September 10, 2018 Category: Psychiatry & Psychology Source Type: research