Therapist Performance Under Pressure

This book draws on performance research from the cognitive and emotion sciences to help therapists negotiate the difficult emotional challenges they face in psychotherapy.

 

Therapists perform under pressure regularly, especially when encountering patients who evoke challenging emotions that mark ruptures in the patient–therapist alliance. Authors Chris Muran and Catherine Eubanks synthesize decades of accumulated clinical knowledge and experience to provide psychotherapists, supervisors, and trainees with effective strategies for recognizing and repairing ruptures. In doing so, they demonstrate how therapists from diverse theoretical orientations can transform ruptures from potential breaking points into opportunities for strengthening alliances with patients and improving outcomes.

 

Clinical illustrations show therapists how to negotiate basic and self‑conscious emotions and navigate individual and cultural differences. This book also reviews strategies and principles for therapist self-care and training via supervision to help therapists better regulate their emotions and become good models for their patients. This book also includes the complete Rupture Resolution Rating System (or 3RS) manual, a popular assessment tool for measuring alliance ruptures and repair strategies.