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APA Psychotherapy Training Videos are intended solely for educational purposes for mental health professionals. Viewers are expected to treat confidential material found herein according to strict professional guidelines. Unauthorized viewing is prohibited.
The approach is predominantly cognitive–behavioral in orientation, but with the incorporation of contributions from experiential and interpersonally oriented psychodynamic therapy. It is possible to incorporate elements from these different orientations by thinking of the change process as involving certain common principles. Included among these general principles of change is the facilitation of expectations that the psychotherapy will be helpful; the presence of an optimal therapeutic relationship; the offering of feedback for purposes of increasing the patient's awareness; the encouragement of corrective experiences; and the emphasis on continued reality testing, a form of "working through."
The different therapeutic orientations reflected in this demonstration may be viewed as implementing the more general principles of change. The three major orientations to psychotherapy have something unique to offer, each complementing the other. Thus, behavior therapy has developed innovative methods for increasing the likelihood of the patient having corrective experiences between sessions. Interpersonally oriented psychotherapy helps us to use the interaction therapeutically as a sample of issues relevant to the patient's life problems. Experiential therapies allow the facilitation of affective arousal, providing patients with a better awareness of what they want or need.
In the videotape, the therapist attempts to increase the patient's expressiveness by helping her tune into her feelings and intentions, encouraging her to respond in accordance with these rather than with the concerns she may have about the potential reactions of others. By starting with an experiential focus on what the patient feels and wants, the behaviorally oriented rehearsal methods may be constructed as an "inside-out" approach to assertion and expressiveness training. The vignette in which the patient becomes angry at the therapist illustrates how this response may be used as a sample of the patient's interactional difficulties.
Return to Cognitive–Affective Behavior Therapy
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