Table of Contents
Introduction
1. Failing to Recognize Our Limitations as
Therapists
I. How to
Fail Even Before You Start Therapy
2. Failing to Address Client Expectations about
Therapy
3. Failing to Inspect the Client’s Previous
Experience with Psychotherapy
4. Failing to Explain the Therapist’s
Expectations Regarding the Therapeutic Process
5. Failing to Prepare Clients for the Variety of
Emotions That Therapy Can Evoke
6. Failing to Enhance Client Expectations of
Success
7. Failing to Understand How Our Assumptions Affect
Therapeutic Practices
II. How
to Perform Incomplete Assessments
8. Ignoring the Client’s “Stage-of-Change” or
Commitment Level
9. Failing to Assess Psychological Reactance
10. Underutilizing Clinical Assessment Instruments
11. Failing to Challenge Client Self-Misdiagnoses
12. Failing to Assess for the Possibility of
Organic or Medical Conditions
13. Ignoring Patient Resources
III. How
to Ignore Science
14. Disregarding the Data
15.Attending to the Messenger Not the Message
16. Achieving Theoretical Rigor Mortis
IV. How
to Avoid Collaboration with the Client
17. Setting Goals Unilaterally
18. Failing to Develop Collaborative Goals in Early
Sessions
19. Failing to Include the Client in Setting
Session Agendas
V. How to
Ruin the Therapist-Client Relationship
20. Emphasizing Technique over
Relationship
Building
21. Failing to Communicate Sufficient Empathy and
Other Signs of Support
22. Believing That Empathy and Unconditional
Positive Regard Means Liking Your Patient
23. Failing to Elicit Client Feedback on the
Alliance
24. Ignoring the Client’s Verbal and Nonverbal
Feedback
25. Responding Defensively to Negative Client
Feedback
VI. How
to Set Improper Therapist-Client Boundaries
26. Overidentifying with the Patient
27. Allowing Inappropriate Levels of Physical
Intimacy
28. Having Boundaries That Are Too Rigid
29. Making Inappropriate Levels of Therapist
Self-Disclosure
30. Failing to Set Boundaries for Out-of-Session
Client-Therapist Contact
VII. How
to Guarantee Noncompliance with Assignments
31. Failing to Provide a Clear Rationale for the
Activity
32. Developing the Activity Unilaterally
33. Failing to Provide Backup Support to Increase
Compliance
VIII. How
to Make Bad Attitudes Worse
35. Failing to Prepare the Client for Attitude
Change
36. Relying on Passive Learning Strategies
37. Failing to Explain That Attitudes Are Not Fixed
Traits
IX. How
Not to Confront Clients
38. Responding Passively to the Client’s
Unproductive Behaviors
39. Responding in an Overly Aggressive or
Insensitive Way
X. How to
Get Clients to Refuse Medication
40. Failing to Prepare Clients in Advance for the
Possibility of Medication
41. Failing to Be Prepared for Client Objections,
Concerns, and Resistance to Medication
XI. How
Not to Terminate Therapy
42. Failing to Discuss Termination Early in Therapy
43. Failing to Follow Proper Termination Procedures
44. Confusing Termination and Abandonment
45. Failing to Be Prepared to Deal with the Myth of
Time-Limited Therapy
XII. How
to Achieve Therapist Burnout
46. Failing to Monitor One’s Own Well-Being
47. Failing to Balance Work and Leisure
48. Ignoring the “Comfort Zone” of the Therapy
Environment
49. Overspecializing
XIII. A
Final Word: The Power of Human Resiliency
50. Undervaluing the Power of Human Resiliency
Appendix A. Therapist Self-Assessment Questionnaire
Appendix B. Assessment Instruments: Therapist
Effectiveness
Appendix C. Assessment Instruments: Clinical Issues
Bibliography
Index
