How Psychotherapists Develop

Book excerpt: How Psychotherapists Develop: A Study of Therapeutic Work and Professional Growth - based on a 15-year study of psychotherapists' experiences and careers - is a book written equally for practicing therapists, clinical educators, and mental health researchers. The authors and their collaborators collected detailed reports from nearly 5,000 psychotherapists of all career levels, professions, and theoretical orientations in more than a dozen countries worldwide. Here the authors sensitively explore the complex nature and interrelatedness of psychotherapeutic work and professional development through a series of systematic, controlled, clinically and theoretically informed analyses - and, in so doing, establish a solid foundation for empirically supported programs of training and supervision. This landmark work emphasizes to researchers the importance of the psychotherapist's contribution to effective treatment, offers guidance to teachers and supervisors of psychotherapists, and - not least - promises to satisfy the curiosity of therapists at all career levels about how their own experiences of work and growth compare with those of their peers and colleagues.