The complex secret of brief psychotherapy

by James Paul Gustafson

In this useful and time book, Gustafson shows how the therapist can borrow from the entire tradition of psychotherapy for productive short-term treatment. He explains how to conserve the virtues of earlier stances; describes how to handle the opening, middle, and ending phases in brief therapy; and clarifies the difficulties in short-term work, particularly the tendency of therapists to leave themselves out of the equation. Gustafson's "method of methods" described here provides psychotherapists with an effective way of engaging patients in brief, successful work.