The basis for supportive psychotherapy -- The supportive relationship -- Principles of supportive technique : explanatory techniques -- Principles of supportive technique : directive interventions -- Managing the therapy -- schizophrenia and hallucinations -- Mood disorders -- Anxiety disorders -- Co-occurring disorders -- Personality disorders -- Crisis management and suicidality -- The medically ill patient -- The older patient -- Special populations -- community and family involvement -- Medication adherence and therapy interactions -- Ethical and cultural awareness in supportive psychotherapy.

"The author of Doing Supportive Psychotherapy set out to address a paradox: although conducting psychotherapy is one of the most intimate and exciting things a mental health professional can do, many textbooks on the subject are dull, with formal, stilted dialogue between patient and therapist which prompts the question,'Does anyone really talk like that?'This text was designed to be different. In a dynamic, informal style, the book draws the reader in, providing the essential building blocks that are both applicable to any mental health discipline and compatible with any type of psychotherapy. The dozens of case examples presented were taken from actual cases and illustrate a full range of interactions from the excellent to the seemingly ineffective: all have instructional value. Likewise, the dialogue between therapist and patient is conversational in a realistic way, sometimes eloquent, sometimes not. This approach gives the reader a true sense of the scope of the therapeutic interaction. In addition, the underlying structure of the book is logical and easy to grasp, beginning with the evolution of supportive psychotherapy and ending with a chapter on termination. • The principles of learning to do a psychodynamic formulation are outlined in a step-by-step fashion, making it easy to learn, progress, and practice. The concepts and techniques explored throughout the book are grounded in the psychotherapy literature, and evidence-based research is cited where relevant. The book emphasizes that psychotherapy is an inexact science, therapists are human, and the process of therapy is a journey that is constantly changing rather than static. This approach reassures the reader, who feels supported in a 'holding environment' while learning psychotherapy. The text is short and sweet, designed to teach essentials and include just enough to get clinicians started in supportive psychotherapy. Although the text is targeted at readers on the path toward becoming psychotherapists (social workers, family counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists), those who don't conduct psychotherapy will find it an essential tool for learning how to understand patients as well as for learning strategies and techniques for keeping a good therapeutic alliance (which inevitably translates into good medication compliance). Doing Supportive Psychotherapy is a brief, spirited book, which functions as both instructional text and paean to psychotherapy. In vigorous, personal prose, the author leaves readers with the message that they are not alone as they venture into the overwhelmingly complex, perplexing, and yet totally wonderful endeavor of the talking cure.".

An updated and expanded new edition of a widely-used guide to the theory and practice of psychodynamic psychotherapy, Cabaniss’ Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual, 2nd Edition provides material for readers to apply immediately in their treatment of patients.

For many patients, supportive therapy is the treatment of choice, and for many others, the use of medications or of more expressive techniques optimally occurs in the context of a supportive relationship. Yet, there is a paucity of literature expressly devoted to the techniques and aims of supportive psychotherapy. In A Primer of Supportive Psychotherapy, Henry Pinsker remedies this situation by focusing directly on the rationale for, and techniques of, supportive psychotherapy. He explores this modality as a form of dyadic intervention quite distinct from expressive psychotherapies, and also shows how, to varying extents, supportive psychotherapy makes use of patterns of relationships and behavior, past and present. Pinsker's writing is wise, human, and direct. The realities, ironies, conundrums, and opportunities of the therapeutic encounter are vividly portrayed in scores of illustrative dialogues drawn from actual treatments. Destined to become the classic introductory work in the field, A Primer of Supportive Psychotherapy will be valued by students and trainees in all mental health disciplines--and by their teachers--for its wealth of practical guidelines and explicit instruction on how to develop, maintain, and make optimal therapeutic use of a supportive relationship. Psychopharmacologists, counselors, nurse practitioners, and primary care physicians are among the helping professionals who will likewise benefit from Pinsker's clear presentation of the principles of supportive work. Beyond its didactic value, this text will be an indispensable conceptual touchstone for any clinician interested in understanding more clearly the differences among various interventional modalities as a preliminary step in optimal treatment planning.

Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is the first book designed to teach therapists how to listen and intervene from multiple perspectives. Through study and analysis of session transcripts, the reader learns how to listen and formulate interpretations from four different perspectives: reflection, analysis of conflict, analysis of transference, and analysis of defense. Each listening approach is introduced with a brief chapter illustrating the rules of intervention followed by therapy transcripts, which the reader studies and analyzes. By studying the transcripts, answering the questions in the material, and comparing his answers with those provided by the author, the reader will learn how to reflect, analyze conflict, interpret the transference, and analyze the defenses. Beginning therapists can use this book to acquire listening and intervention skills. Advanced therapists will enjoy studying and comparing listening approaches from a meta-theoretical perspective. Psychodynamic Psychotherapy provides a framework for studying how each approach focuses on a different analytic surface, and uses different rules for timing and content of interpretation.

First published in 1989. This volume reflects the extensive experience of a clinician-educator in psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Dr. Werman presents a balanced, comprehensive, detailed, nondoctrinaire, and warm human treatment of the subject. He makes it clear that, while supportive psychotherapy can and should be based on psychodynamic understanding of patients, the technical principles that guide application of such understanding in supportive treatment are quite different from those guiding insight oriented therapy. Careful reflection upon the text and its many clinical examples will suggest that good supportive psychotherapy is extremely difficult and demanding of special skills.

Psychodynamic therapy has a growing evidence base, is cost-effective, and may have unique mechanisms of clinical change. However, gaining competence in this approach generally requires extensive training and mastery of a large and complex literature. Integrating clinical theory and research findings, Psychodynamic Therapy Techniques provides comprehensive but practical guidance on the main interventions of contemporary psychodynamic practice. Early chapters describe the psychodynamic "stance" and illustrate effective means of identifying and understanding clinical problems. Later, the book describes how to question, clarify, confront, and interpret patient material as well as assess the clinical impacts of interventions. With these foundational tools in place, the book supplements the "classic" psychodynamic therapy techniques with six sets of supportive interventions helpful for lower-functioning patients or those in acute crisis. Complete with step-by-step instructions on how to prepare techniques as well as numerous clinical vignettes to illustrate their use in clinical settings, Psychodynamic Therapy Techniques effectively demystifies this important approach to therapy and helps practitioners more effectively apply them to a wide range of patients and problems.