Doing brief psychotherapy

by Michael Franz Basch

Open-ended therapy is no longer an option for most patients, and therapists must learn to achieve therapeutic goals in much shorter periods. This practical and highly readable book spells out an effective treatment approach designed to work successfully with most patients in fewer than twenty sessions. For his technique, Basch relies on his "developmental model" for psychotherapy, which emphasizes the central role of affect and affective development in treatment. This model builds on the advances made by dynamic psychotherapy, without involving the patient in a lengthy uncovering and reconstruction of childhood trauma. Instead, Basch describes how the therapist can reframe each patient's dynamics and then use the strengths revealed to offset the patient's difficulties. This approach allows each patient to confront life's problems not as a hapless victim of circumstance, past or present, but as a proactive agent for change. To illustrate his new approach, Basch includes several absorbin