Transformation in Psychotherapy (PDF)

Corrective experiences are events that challenge one's fear or expectations and lead to new outcomes. They are often facilitated by a skilled therapist as a breakthrough in the client's efforts to engage in new behaviors, adopt more healthy ways of relating to others, develop a more positive view of self, or feel previously unacceptable feelings. As such, corrective experiences play a central role in transformative processes fostered in different forms of psychotherapy. Yet despite their playing such a crucial role in therapy, there has been scant research and theoretical attention devoted to the nature of corrective experiences, what therapeutic mechanisms trigger them, or their consequences for positive outcomes. Veteran psychotherapy scholars Louis Castonguay and Clara Hill team up again for this comprehensive look at corrective experiences across the main psychotherapeutic approaches. Presented in two parts, this edited volume brings together leading scholar-practitioners to map out the theoretical bases of corrective experiences (Part I) and new research on transformative events across various client perspectives, different psychotherapeutic schools, and treatments for specific clinical problems, such as generalized anxiety disorder and anorexia nervosa (Part II). Written for the therapist as well as the clinical researcher, Transformation in Psychotherapy provides conceptually sophisticated and clinically rich perspectives of the process of change that will appeal to scholars and graduate students specializing in psychotherapy practice and research.