Therapeutic Communication: Knowing What to Say When - Softcover

"Wachtel, whose contributions have been at the cutting edge of contemporary approaches to psychotherapy, masterfully deals with the clinically delicate task of verbally presenting reality to patients. Wachtel astutely observes that in saying the unsaid, therapists often walk the fine line between clarification and accusation. Richly illustrated with clinical examples, Therapeutic Communication provides therapists with invaluable guiding principles that can enhance their clinical effectiveness." --Marvin R. Goldfried, PhD, State University of New York at Stony Brook "Forget that speed reading course you took--this is a book that will absorb you so deeply you'll want to savor every paragraph, every sentence. Paul Wachtel has already given us some of the most creative books on psychotherapy, but Therapeutic Communication stands apart as a genuine masterpiece of clinical and scholarly wisdom. This is undoubtedly one of the most important books on psychotherapy in the last two decades. For the novice, it will orient and clarify therapeutic essentials, and for the seasoned clinician, it will reinvigorate and expand horizons. There is nothing else like it." --Alan Gurman, PhD, University of Wisconsin Medical School "Paul Wachtel has been one of the most thoughtful and provocative writers on psychodynamic psychotherapy in recent years. He has made major contributions in the application of complex psychoanalytic ideas to the broader range of psychotherapies, and conversely has made important contributions to the rethinking and modernization of traditional psychoanalytic concepts. In this volume, he extends his model of cyclical psychodynamics to the important and largely unexplored area of the metacommunicational dimensions of the therapist's participation." --Stephen Mitchell, PhD, Editor, Psychoanalytic Dialogues "This is the best book on how to talk to one's patients I have ever read, and it is the book I most frequently recommend to my trainees to read....Throughout the book, Wachtel offers principles, backed up with examples of therapeutic communications that worked, did not work, or could have been much better framed, that allow even highly experienced clinicians to rethink some of the nitty-gritty of the syntax of their communications with patients....a profund and important book" --"Journal of Psychotherapy Integration" "This is the best book on how to talk to one's patients I have ever read, and it is the book I most frequently recommend to my trainees....The lessons on language embodied in this book are experience-near and clinically useful for anyone who talks with patients, regardless of theoretical orientation.... Wachtel addresses with tremendous sophistication a number of thorny issues that are seldom addressed in such a clear, clinically genuine (as opposed to theoretically driven) way, such as the uses and limits of therapeutic self-disclosure and suggestion....A profound and important book." --"Journal of Psychotherapy Integration" ""Therapeutic Communication" is a unique book that integrates the theoretical models of psychoanalysis and ego psychology with learning theory, cognitive behavior modification and suggestions (hypnotic and non-hypnotic). The book has many practical illustrations and clinical examples for verbal therapeutic communication. It is well written and highly sophisticated. Beginning, as well as mature and experienced clinicians, will find it to be a truetreasure for their practice of psychotherapy." --"American Journal of Clinical Hypnosis" "Wachtel's book is a masterpiece. It should be required reading for all therapists. His incisive thesis integrates and extends some of the most important thinking about psychotherapy in the 20th century." --"The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease" "This is a textbook to sit down and read from cover to cover....It will be essential reading for any student of psychodynamic therapy. It will also be of great value to lecturers, researchers and a wider readership of psychologists, therapists and counsellors. Excellent and very readable." --"Changes: An International Journal of Psychology and Psychotherapy" ., .."The book is a straightforward delivery on the promise of its title. It is a richly illustrated compendium of therapeutic prescriptions: strategies of communication--modeling, reframing, role-playing, the use of paradox and suggestion--whose legacy is clearly that of cognitive and behavioral therapies, and other ways to say exactly what one wishes to convey. Abundant clinical vignettes provide examples and explanations of why one version of a comment or interpretation may be more usable to the patient than another. Yet, throughout the book, such traditional psychoanalytic goals as increased self-awareness, insight into conflict, and ownership of feelings and behavior are not neglected....This book is an interesting and enlightening exposition of an interesting and enlightening point of view." --"Psychoanalytic Books: A Quarterly Journal ofReviews" "Simply written, well-illustrated...."Therapeutic Communication" is a book that is well worth reading. For the novice therapist, it provides an important addition to knowledge of technique. For the more experienced practitioner, it carefully and systematically puts into words ways in which we can consider our work." --"The American Journal of Psychoanalysis" "This book should be especially useful in teaching psychotherapy." -"-Bulletin of the Menninger Clinic" "Persuasive and lucid....This book would be an excellent addition to any clinician's library. For beginning therapists, it will assist them in mastering the difficult task of translating theory into technique. More experienced therapists will find it of use in improving their supervision of psychotherapy and in helping keep figural what makes treatment effective. Finally, for all clinicians, this book reminds us that often it is the way subtle details are handled that makes a great artist." --"Contemporary Psychology" "The purpose of the book is to demonstrate how best to convey understanding of a patient to that patient for maximal therapeutic benefit, an often overlooked but extremely important issue in the therapeutic process....Written primarily for clinical psychologists. In addition, graduate students will also benefit from reading the book....Covers an important topic in a very attractive writing style." --"Doody's Journal - Health Sciences Book Review" "Should be of significant help to students and to practitioners ofpsychotherapy...Nuances of communication style are treated comparatively and persuasively rather than pejoratively...Dr. Wachtel's material is fecund with an admixture of theoretical knowledge, experience, and universally applicable clinical vignettes. The chapter on achieving resolution of the patient's difficulties is particularly germane....Overall, this book would be very useful and productive in training programs for all those engaging in forms of psychotherapy." --"Journal of Behavior Therapy and Experimental Psychiatry" "A most useful and readable book for both beginners and experienced therapists. I recommend it wholeheartedly." --"American Journal of Psychotherapy"

Rich in clinical detail, this book examines therapeutic communication styles and their effect on the outcome of treatment. Paul Wachtel presents examples of crucial moments in the therapeutic process and several things the therapist could say in response, each with different consequences and implications for the overall treatment. Examining the way psychic problems originate, persist, and evolve, Wachtel illuminates the dynamic processes that perpetuate problematic relational patterns in the patient's history and suggests communication strategies that lead to their resolution. Integrating psychodynamic theories with insights and discoveries from other approaches, the author presents a new theory of psychological disorder and change. A concluding chapter by Ellen Wachtel, a couples therapist, extends the ideas presented in the book to work with couples. This volume will be very useful for clinical psychologists, psychiatrists, counseling psychologists, social workers, psychiatric nurses, pastoral counselors, and marital and family counselors.