States of Mind: Analysis of Change in Psychotherapy (Critical Issues in Psychiatry)

Some will wonder why this book, with its specific focus on the pro­ cess of change in psychotherapy, was chosen for inclusion in "Crit­ ical Issues in Psychiatry: A Series for Residents and Clinicians" as our books are generally devoted to a broad topical survey of some im­ portant clinical area in the practice of psychiatry or a related mental health discipline. The answer will become rapidly apparent to the reader, for Dr. Horowitz has developed an exciting, creative, and practical method whereby any psychotherapist can understand, monitor, conceptualize, and evaluate the process of change in psychotherapy. His method of "configurational analysis" utilizes direct clinical observations of emotional states, role relationships, and information processing to systematically, in a step-by-step fashion, organize and describe clinical data. It can be employed at any point in the therapeutic transaction, from the time of initial presentation to the time of termina­ tion or follow-up. This method of organizing information about a person, his problems and resources, and the nature of the psychotherapeutic transaction provides the therapist with a powerful tool with which to both understand and communicate how and why change occurs, or does not occur, in psychotherapy. It can be applied all the way from the description of large-scale patterns to the microanalytic dissection and understanding of a small segment of a therapy session. Some will wonder why this book, with its specific focus on the proƯ cess of change in psychotherapy, was chosen for inclusion in "CritƯ ical Issues in Psychiatry: A Series for Residents and Clinicians" as our books are generally devoted to a broad topical survey of some imƯ portant clinical area in the practice of psychiatry or a related mental health discipline. The answer will become rapidly apparent to the reader, for Dr. Horowitz has developed an exciting, creative, and practical method whereby any psychotherapist can understand, monitor, conceptualize, and evaluate the process of change in psychotherapy. His method of "configurational analysis" utilizes direct clinical observations of emotional states, role relationships, and information processing to systematically, in a step-by-step fashion, organize and describe clinical data. It can be employed at any point in the therapeutic transaction, from the time of initial presentation to the time of terminaƯ tion or follow-up. This method of organizing information about a person, his problems and resources, and the nature of the psychotherapeutic transaction provides the therapist with a powerful tool with which to both understand and communicate how and why change occurs, or does not occur, in psychotherapy. It can be applied all the way from the description of large-scale patterns to the microanalytic dissection and understanding of a small segment of a therapy session Front Matter....Pages i-xvii Introduction Plan for Configurational Analysis: Summary of Illustration Case....Pages 1-19 Front Matter....Pages 21-21 Description of Problems....Pages 23-29 States and State Cycles....Pages 30-47 Self-Images and Relationship Models....Pages 48-75 Ideas, Emotions, and Controls....Pages 76-94 Front Matter....Pages 95-96 Modification of the Transition between States....Pages 97-102 Development of Self-images and Role Relationships....Pages 103-122 Working Through Ideas, Feelings, and Modifying Controls....Pages 123-151 Front Matter....Pages 153-154 Alteration in the Frequency and Quality of States....Pages 155-158 Modification of Self-Images and Role Relationships....Pages 159-165 Change in Ideational Constellations and Information-Processing Style....Pages 166-171 Front Matter....Pages 173-173 Use of Configurational Analysis in Teaching....Pages 175-195 Research Applications....Pages 196-208 Applications during Treatment....Pages 209-219 Appendix Transcript Illustrations....Pages 221-269 Back Matter....Pages 271-282