Emotion, Psychotherapy, and Change

Book excerpt: EMOTION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND CHANGE represents a systematic attempt to map the various ways emotion influences the change process and to clarify the underlying mechanisms. A continuation of the editors' pioneering work, EMOTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY, this volume makes a significant contribution to the development of a transtheoretical approach to affective change events. Viewing emotional experience as an active ingredient in, rather than a by-product of, the change process, the book explores the ramifications of this understanding for the conduct of therapy. A thorough review of the theory and therapeutic implications of emotion in human functioning precedes chapters by representatives of three different therapeutic traditions: cognitive-behavioral, psychodynamic, and experiential. Contributors identify and describe the key affective change events important in their respective approaches and then speculate about the underlying processes. Included here are detailed descriptions of relevant therapist-client interactions as well as clinical transcripts that vividly illustrate the process of change. A separate, theory-oriented commentary section follows in which the theme of emotion in psychotherapy is examined from the perspectives of cognitive psychology and emotion theory. A synthesis and critical analysis of affective change processes rounds out the volume. EMOTION, PSYCHOTHERAPY, AND CHANGE satisfies its practical and theoretical objectives by providing detailed descriptions of intervention strategies while explicating how and why these interventions work. Its attention to both theory and practice, and its synthesis of different theoretical traditions, make this volume essential reading for seasoned psychotherapists, researchers, and students.