Learning Psychotherapy: Rationale and Ground Rules / Edition 1

by Hilde Bruch M.D.

Overview

Hilde Bruch sets out to accomplish what has, until now, been virtually impossible—the teaching of psychotherapy by use of the written word, communicating the wisdom of a lifetime. Perhaps Dr. Bruch’s unique success at a task that has been tried and tried again, only to result in stereotyped dos and don’ts, stems from her own learning experiences with two great teachers: Harry Stack Sullivan and Frieda Fromm-Reichmann.

Dr. Bruch shares her knowledge of the essential purpose of intensive psychotherapy as it has been shaped over her many years as a psychiatrist, psychoanalyst, and teacher. She sets forth a theoretical frame in straightforward and unmystical language without minimizing the complexities of demand that therapy makes on both patient and therapist.

The reader accompanies the therapist from his first encounter with the stranger who comes to him with his trouble through the various steps that lead to the resolution of the problems. The patient is viewed as a participant in a multifaceted system of many experiences and people, not as an individual isolated from the world around him. In Dr. Bruch’s conception, psychotherapy is a situation where two people interact and try to come to an understanding of one another, with the specific goal of accomplishing something beneficial for the complaining person. The factors that help or hinder the attainment of this interaction are spelled out in the book, and the entire process of learning psychotherapy is thereby illuminated.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780674520264
Publisher:	Harvard University Press
Publication date:	10/15/1980
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	168
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.75(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Hilde Bruch, M.D., was Professor of Psychiatry at Baylor College of Medicine and the author of several books, including Eating Disorders.

Table of Contents

1. When Strangers Meet

First Reactions

Assessment of a Stranger

Therapeutic Purpose

Keeping the Interview Going

Social Amenities

Living Conditions

Formal Professional Arrangements

The Fee

A Literary Example

2. Personality in the Making

Psychoanalytic Theory

Misuse of Terminology

The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry

Modern Studies of Early Development

Theory and Therapy

3. The World Around

Contact with Relatives and Associates

Therapeutic Involvement of the Family

Family Interference

Aloofness from the Family

Hospitalization

Medication

4. The Patient Speaks

Fears and Expectations

Previous Therapy

Style of Communication

Nonverbal Communication

Dreams

Art Work

Schizophrenic Communication

5. On Talking and Listening

The Beginner's Dilemma

Theoretical Concepts

The Therapist's Style

History Taking

Exploring Feelings

Defining the Relationship

6. On Teaching and Learning

Grand Rounds

Electronic Teaching Aids

Individual Supervision

Styles of Supervision

Interactional Patterns

Developing Self-Awareness

Unstated Messages

Supervision as Therapy

7. The Therapeutic Experience

The Case of the Former Nun

The Doctor-Patient Relationship

The Hostile Patient

Sexual Problems

Working Through

Indications of Progress

Termination

8. The Next Step

Therapy forTherapists

Some Books

Last Words

Editorial Reviews

A masterpiece of succinct and clear statements about the major and fundamental issues of psychotherapy.

Otto Allen Will

Learning Psychotherapy is a superb book by one of our most brilliant and creative psychiatrists. From her wealth of experience as an analytic psychotherapist and as a supervisor of medical student, residents, and psychoanalytic trainees, Dr. Bruch tells how to work with patients so that each therapeutic session can broaden the therapist as well as be useful to the patient.

Theodore Lidz

Dr. Bruch’s volume is at once scientific, sensible, modest, and undoubtedly, efficacious. This is an excellent book in all respects, and it is highly recommended.

American Journal of Psychiatry