Psychotherapy Over Time

In Psychotherapy Over Time, Dr. Jon Carlson works with a client over the course of six psychotherapy sessions. These sessions provide an example of how therapy can empower and help clients to begin to develop new thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.

In these sessions, Dr. Carlson works with a 30-year-old woman named Aimee, a single mother who has always sought to please others rather than take care of herself. When she begins therapy she is depressed and expresses fears about her ex-husband harming her and her two teenage sons. As therapy progresses, she begins to transform her thoughts and behavior by developing her ability to state her needs and by reducing her negative self-talk. Over the course of therapy she becomes empowered and positive, developing a stronger connection with her mother and other family members as well as new confidence and the ability to care for herself.

This six-session set offers an exciting opportunity to witness positive therapeutic change over time.

Dr. Carlson uses an integrated approach that is based in the work of Alfred Adler. Adlerian Therapy: Theory and Practice (American Psychological Association, 2006) highlights this approach to therapy. Throughout the six sessions, many strategies and techniques from other schools of therapy are used.

Dr. Carlson urges the viewer to watch how early in the sessions he focuses on building up Aimee and helping her to identify her strengths. It is important to create a positive relationship as well as to help her realize the assets and strengths that she brings to therapy.

Throughout the session Dr. Carlson gives her assignments to complete outside of treatment. At the end of the six sessions, notice how she looks. The change is observable.

Jon Carlson, PsyD, EdD, is distinguished professor in the Division of Psychology and Counseling at Governors State University in University Park, Illinois, and psychologist at the Wellness Clinic in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Dr. Carlson served as the founding editor of The Family Journal and past president of the International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors. He holds a diplomate in family psychology from the American Board of Professional Psychology. He has written 40 books including Time for a Better Marriage, The Intimate Couple, The Disordered Couple, Couples Therapy, Family Therapy Techniques, and Adlerian Therapy.

• Carlson, J., Watts, R. E., & Maniacci, M. (2006). Adlerian therapy: Theory and practice. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
• Sperry, L., Carlson, J., & Kjos, D. (2000). Becoming an effective therapist. Boston: Allyn & Bacon.

APA Videos

• Adlerian Therapy
  Jon Carlson
• Affect-Focused Dynamic Psychotherapy
  Leigh McCullough
• Brief Dynamic Therapy
  Stanley B. Messer
• Constructivist Therapy
  Robert A. Neimeyer
• Couple Therapy for Depression
  Mark A. Whisman
• Depression
  Michael D. Yapko
• Forgiveness
  Robert D. Enright and Richard P. Fitzgibbons
• Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Depression
  Zindel V. Segal
• Working With Women Survivors of Trauma and Abuse
  Laura S. Brown

APA Books

• Emotion-Focused Therapy for Depression
  Leslie S. Greenberg and Jeanne C. Watson
• Experiences of Depression: Theoretical, Clinical, and Research Perspectives
  Sidney J. Blatt