On Becoming a Psychotherapist: The Personal and Professional Journey PDF
Preview On Becoming a Psychotherapist: The Personal and Professional Journey
O n Becoming a Psychotherapist This page intentionally left blank O n Becoming a Psychotherapist T he Personal and Professional Journey E dited by R OBERT H. KLEIN H AROLD S. BERNARD V ICTOR L. SCHERMER 1 2 011 1 O xford University Press, Inc., publishes works that further O xford University’s objective of excellence i n research, scholarship, and education. O xford New York A uckland Cape Town Dar es Salaam Hong Kong Karachi K uala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Nairobi N ew Delhi Shanghai Taipei Toronto W ith offi ces in A rgentina Austria Brazil Chile Czech Republic France Greece G uatemala Hungary Italy Japan Poland Portugal Singapore S outh Korea Switzerland Thailand Turkey Ukraine Vietnam C opyright © 2011 by Oxford University Press, Inc. P ublished by Oxford University Press, Inc. 1 98 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 w ww.oup.com O xford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press A ll rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, s tored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, e lectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, w ithout the prior permission of Oxford University Press. L ibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data O n becoming a psychotherapist : the personal and professional journey / edited by Robert Klein, Harold Bernard, Victor Schermer. p . ; cm. I SBN 978-0-19-973639-3 1 . Psychotherapists—Attitudes. 2. Psychotherapists—Psychology. 3. Psychotherapy—Vocational guidance. 4. Psychotherapy—Study and teaching. 5. Career development. I. Klein, Robert H. II. Bernard, Harold S. III. Schermer, Victor L. [ DNLM: 1. Psychotherapy. 2. Motivation. 3. Personality Development. 4. Professional Role—psychology. 5. Vocational Guidance. WM 420 O575 2011] R C480.5.O492 2011 6 16.89'14—dc22 2010020132 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 P rinted in the United States of America o n acid-free paper This book is dedicated to all psychotherapists who have labored courageously to become the best we can be. We are especially grateful to the many teachers, supervisors, colleagues and patients who have contributed to our own personal and professional development. This page intentionally left blank F oreword P sychotherapy is praxis, not a gnosis. The practice of psychotherapy draws upon talent, knowledge, experience, attitudes, values, and the freedom to employ these in the service of the patient and the treatment. This is diffi cult (Freud suggested “impossible”) and therapists, like therapy itself, are always in the process of becoming, never complete. Further, like psychotherapy itself, the process of becoming a therapist is the essence; the product has sig- nifi cance only insofar as it refl ects the process that created it. This book, by directing our attention to those processes that create psychotherapists, marks the beginning of a new chapter in the study of psychotherapy. T here are many books about psychotherapy—what it is, how to do it, how it works, whether it works, and the several theories or schools that guide its practice. Their number and popularity attests to the ongoing struggle of psychotherapists to think about what they do, and how and why they do it. T here are fewer books about those who conduct psychotherapy, the psy- chotherapists. This is one of those books. Psychotherapists, like everyone else, are more comfortable looking outside rather than inside, at their patients or at their work rather than at themselves. This is a book in which psychothera- pists do look at their colleagues and at themselves, at how they came to be and at what difference it makes. It is striking how, as they talk about their students and colleagues in rather abstract terms, they return repeatedly to personal stories about themselves, the experiences that led them to their being the kinds of therapists that they have become. It is not surprising that gifted therapists fi nd the most powerful version of what that want to say in the spe- cifi c and concrete rather than the general and the abstract, for that is what is most powerful in psychotherapy as well. T he process of becoming a therapist is viewed from many perspectives within these pages. We learn of the personal background, critical develop- mental events, traumas, mentoring relationships, personal therapy, supervi- sion, didactic teaching, and clinical experience. The contributors to this book also discuss new developments in the fi eld, tensions between the ancient art and the emerging science; between the most traditional psychoanalytically-based vii viii Foreword models and the more specifi c, focused and research-based techniques devel- oped in recent years. I n a way the very existence of this volume marks an important turning point in the evolution of the profession of psychotherapy itself. In the begin- ning therapy was seen as an expert applying knowledge about psychology and psychopathology to the study and treatment of patients. The knowledge was about the patient; the treatment situation was simply the context in which it was applied and the therapist was the expert who applied it. However, it soon became apparent that the results, the effi cacy or effectiveness of the treat- ment, depended upon more than the psychological and psychopathologic understanding of the therapist. The focus of interest broadened, to encom- pass the therapeutic process as well as the patient and psychopathology. Understanding the events in the treatment became as or more important that understanding the patient’s struggles in life. O nce again there has been a broadening of interest, with the change marked by this volume. The events in treatment are created by the therapist as well as by the patient, and we therefore direct our gaze to the therapists as well as to the patient and the treatment. The editors of this volume have assembled a group of gifted guides as they lead us along this new path. We have much to learn and far to go, but most important, we have taken that fi rst step. R obert Michels, M.D. W alsh McDermott University Professor of Medicine and University Professor of Psychiatry W eill Medical College of Cornell University N ew York, NY P reface T his book has been a long time in the making. Collectively we, the editors, have been treating patients in psychotherapy for more than 100 years. In addition, education, training, and supervision have all been mainstays of each of our careers, during which we have worked with thousands of trainees and fellow professionals from the various mental health disciplines. One of us (RHK) recently received the Award for Outstanding Contributions to the Field of Group Psychotherapy from the National Registry of Certifi ed Group Psychotherapists, and served for many years as the Director of Education and Training at the multidisciplinary Yale Psychiatric Institute. Another of us (HSB) has been supervising trainees from all the mental health disciplines for more than 30 years, and directed the group psychotherapy training program at NYU/Bellevue Medical Center for 14 years. The third co-editor (VLS) is the author and editor of many highly regarded books and articles about psychotherapy, and has been responsible for the training, education, and supervision of therapists in numerous settings in the United States and worldwide. As a result of being deeply immersed for many years in both clinical work and the educational process, we have witnessed signifi cant changes in the fi eld of mental health, and psychotherapy in particular. To say that things have changed dramatically over the years regarding the practice of psycho- therapy would be an understatement! The patients we currently see for treat- ment are different from those we typically saw 40 years ago. Many are treated psychopharmacologically, either exclusively or in tandem with psychotherapy. Increasing numbers of those seeking psychotherapy no longer fall into the “neurotic” or “worried-well” categories. Instead, many present with complex problems that include histories of substance abuse, trauma, dual diagnoses, and longstanding, often profound interpersonal problems. Successful treatment now poses new challenges for psychotherapists and often requires additional special training. F urthermore, the treatment process itself has changed substantially. Not only have a plethora of different theoretical models emerged and developed, but therapy is now routinely provided in different settings, including hospitals ix
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