The English edition of a widely discussed book that is expected to provoke similar interest and debate among an international audience.

The original edition of Klaus Grawe's book exploring the basis and need for a more generally valid concept of psychotherapy fueled a lively debate among psychotherapists and psychologists in German-speaking areas. Now available in English, this book will help spread the concepts and the debate among a wider audience. The book is written in dialog form. A practicing therapist, a research psychologist, and a therapy researcher take part in three dialogs, each of which builds on the results of the previous dialog. The first dialog explores how therapeutic change takes place, while the second looks at how the mechanisms of action of psychotherapy can be understood in terms of basic psychological concepts. Finally, in the third dialog, a psychological theory of psychotherapy is developed. The practical implications of this are clearly shown in the form of case examples, as well as guidance on indications and treatment planning. The dialog ends with suggestions as to how therapy training and provision of psychotherapy could be improved on the basis of the model of psychotherapy that has been developed.

Autorentext
Prof. Dr. Klaus Grawe, geboren 1943, 1963 - 1968 Studium der Psychologie in Hamburg und Freiburg i. Br.; 1969 - 1979 Klinischer Psychologe an der Psychiatrischen Universitätsklinik Hamburg-Eppendorf, Schwerpunkt stationäre Psychotherapie; 1976 Promotion; 1979 Habilitation. Seit 1979 Inhaber des Lehrstuhls für Klinische Psychologie und Leiter der Psychotherapeutischen Praxisstelle der Universität Bern, seitdem Schwerpunkt ambulante Psychotherapie. Past President der Society for Psychotherapy Research und Gründungs-Herausgeber der Zeitschrift Psychotherapy Research. Autor zahlreicher Studien zu Fragen der Wirksamkeit und Wirkungsweise von Psychotherapie.

Klappentext

The original edition of Klaus Grawe's book exploring the basis and need for a more generally valid concept of psychotherapy fueled a lively debate among psychotherapists and psychologists in German-speaking areas. Now available in English, this book will help spread the concepts and the debate among a wider audience. The book is written in dialog form. A practicing therapist, a research psychologist, and a therapy researcher take part in three dialogs, each of which builds on the results of the previous dialog. The first dialog explores how therapeutic change takes place, while the second looks at how the mechanisms of action of psychotherapy can be understood in terms of basic psychological concepts. Finally, in the third dialog, a psychological theory of psychotherapy is developed. The practical implications of this are clearly shown in the form of case examples, as well as guidance on indications and treatment planning. The dialog ends with suggestions as to how therapy training and provision of psychotherapy could be improved on the basis of the model of psychotherapy that has been developed.

Zusammenfassung
A discussion of psychological psychotherapy, showing how therapists must learn from researchers, and how researchers must learn from practising therapists. The work is written in dialogue form, the participants being a practising therapist, a research psychologist, and a therapy researcher.

Inhalt
First Dialogue - How Are Changes Achieved Through Psychotherapy? Part 1: Entering Into Dialogue The participants present themselves; Mysteries of therapeutic change; The phenomenon of rapid improvements at the beginning of therapy Part 2: Psychotherapy Seen From the Expectancy-Value Perspective Change of expectations as a general change mechanism in therapy; Placebo-effects and expectancy induction; Expectancy induction and resource activation; The interplay of general and disorder-specific working principles; Each mental disorder has its own disorder-specific dynamics: Agoraphobia as an example; The significance of expectancy-value theories for the understanding of the mechanisms of psychotherapy; Differences in the mechanisms of mastery- versus clarification-oriented therapies; Therapy this side and that side of the Rubicon; Therapeutic effects through activation and deactivation of intentions; The formation and realization of intentions as different focuses of clarification- and mastery-oriented therapies; Psychotherapy as a process of motivational clarification for the formation of clear intentions; The process aspect of motivational clarification Part 3: Efficacy Principles of Psychotherapy The working mechanism of intention realization; The working mechanism of intention modification; The working mechanism of processual activation; The working mechanism of resource activation; Working mechanisms instead of therapeutic methods Part 4: Psychotherapy Under the Conflict Perspective The therapeutic relevance of motivational conflicts; On the relevance of corrective emotional experiences regarding unconscious conflicts; On the mechanisms of cognitive therapies under the conflict perspective; On the integrative potential of the cognitive therapy approach; On the relevance of motivational conflicts for mental disorders - agoraphobia; Conflict dynamics as a task of empirical research Part 5: Psychotherapy From the Relationship Perspective The significance of interpersonal relationships for psychotherapy; The therapeutic relationship under the aspect of processual activation; The therapeutic relationship from the problem perspective; The therapeutic relationship from the resource perspective; On the interpersonal nature of human mental life; On the mechanisms of interpersonal therapies; On the mechanisms of couples therapy; On the mechanisms of family therapies Part 6: Summary and Conclusions The multiple meanings of what happens in therapy and the consequences; Indication and case conception in a general psychotherapy Second Dialogue - Towards a Psychological Understanding of How Psychotherapy Works Or: Foundations of Psychological Therapy Part 1: Mental Processes From a Systems Perspective Experience, behavior and unconscious processes in psychology and psychotherapy; A systems conception of the interaction between behavior, experience and unconscious processes; The interplay of conscious and unconscious processes on the higher levels of psychological activity; Contemporaneous conscious and unconscious processes and their significance for conceiving of mental processes; On the functional role of mental processes being conscious; Linking the systems conception with the Rubicon model Part 2: Foundations of Experiencing and Behavior Perception as an active construction process; The neural bases of perception; No perception without expectation; The memory as the sum of all expectations and activation tendencies; Differentiating various forms of memory; Implicit and explicit memory; Differences in accessing the explicit and implicit memory and their relevance for psychotherapy; Therapeutic change of activated memory content; Implicit perception and learning; Conditioning processes and their significance for psychotherapy; Change as emergence of new neural activation patterns; Learning under the influence of goals; Learning in psychotherapy from the perspective of expectancy-value theories; How to conceive neural activation patterns as the basis of mental functioning; The emotional quality of mental functioning; The therapeu