Barry L. Duncan

Scott D. Miller

Jacqueline A. Sparks

In this controversial book, psychologists Barry Duncan and Scott Miller, cofounders of the Institute for the Study of Therapeutic Change, challenge the traditional focus on diagnosis, "silver bullet" techniques, and magic pills, exposing them as empirically bankrupt practices that only diminish the role of clients and hasten therapy's extinction. Instead, they advocate for the long-ignored but most crucial factor in therapeutic success-the innate resources of the client. Based on extensive clinical research and case studies, The Heroic Client not only shows how to harness the client's powers of regeneration to make therapy effective, but also how to enlist the client as a partner to make therapy accountable. The Heroic Client inspires therapists to boldly rewrite the drama of therapy, recast clients in their rightful role as heroes and heroines of the therapeutic stage, and legitimize their services to third-party payers without the compromises of the medical model.

A Revolutionary Way to Improve Effectiveness Through Client-Directed, Outcome-Informed Therapy

The Heroic Client

John J. Murphy

Every interaction with a young person who is struggling is an opportunity for change. This highly practical guide helps school practitioners find effective solutions to academic and behavioral problems through brief counseling. It shows how to build on the ideas and resources that students, parents, and teachers bring to the intervention process, within an innovative, research-supported, time-limited framework. Extensive case material illustrates the authors' creative approach to building solutions and "busting problems" by putting clients in the driver's seat. Filled with real-world examples from both elementary and secondary settings, the book presents creative strategies for addressing disciplinary problems, poor academic performance, anxiety, compulsive behaviors, and other common difficulties.

Outcome-Informed Strategies

Brief Intervention for School Problems, Second Edition

Mark Hubble

This definitive guide for succeeding in an era of managed care offers mental health practitioners the tools for applying solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT) techniques.

Handbook of Solution-Focused Brief Therapy

American Psychological Association

Updating the classic first edition of The Heart and Soul of Change, editors Duncan, Miller, Wampold, and Hubble, have created a new and enriched volume that presents the most recent research on what works in therapeutic practice, a thorough analysis of this research, and practical guidance on how a therapist can truly deliver what works in therapy. This volume examines the common factors underlying effective psychotherapy and brings the psychotherapist and the client-therapist relationship back into focus as key determinants of psychotherapy outcome. The second edition of The Heart and Soul of Change also demonstrates the power of systematic client feedback to improve effectiveness and efficiency and legitimize psychotherapy services to third party payers. In this way, psychotherapy is implemented one person at a time, based on that unique individuals perceptions of the progress and fit of the therapy and therapist. Readers familiar with the first edition will encounter the same pragmatic focus but with a larger breadth of coveragethis edition adds chapters on both youth psychotherapy and substance abuse treatment. Through reading The Heart and Soul of Change, Second Edition: Delivering What Works in Therapy clinicians of varied levels of experience will improve their understanding of what is truly therapeutic in the diverse forms of psychotherapy practiced today.

Delivering what Works in Therapy

The Heart & Soul of Change

Mark A. Hubble

While "psychotherapy" has been busily dividing into hundreds of different models, research shows that it doesn't really matter which approach you use. Yet there are some factors, across models, that do matter.

Toward a Unifying Language for Psychotherapy Practice

Escape from Babel

Andrew D. Solovey

Gregory S. Rusk

All therapists at some time or other are confronted with cases that do not fit the assumptions of their chosen theoretical model--clients who should get better do not, while others improve for reasons the model does not explain. One lesson that can (and should) be drawn from such cases is that the client's perception of the therapist's behavior and of the intervention process is a powerful factor in therapeutic success or failure. These relationship factors account for a significant proportion of change in psychotherapy, yet little has been written about how to utilize them. Filling a gap in the literature, this book presents a pragmatic application of these simple but difficult experiential lessons to the practice of individual, couple, and family therapy. When should a therapist shift gears? And how is it done? CHANGING THE RULES presents a flexible methodology for practice that encourages clinicians to utilize their clients' interpretations in constructing more effective interventions. Providing a developmental and empirical context for the approach, the book covers the initial interview and the selection, design, and delivery of interventions, as well as issues such as ethics and gender bias. Several case examples and two full-length studies demonstrate each stage of the therapeutic process, fully illustrating the approach and enabling the creative therapist to replicate it in practice. Proposing a coherent framework for practice that empowers relationship effects, enhances therapist flexibility, and expands the repertoire of intervention strategies for working with individuals, couples, and families, this volume is an invaluable resource for clinicians, academicians, and students regardless of theoretical orientation.

A Client-directed Approach to Therapy

Changing the Rules

Barry L. Duncan presents therapists with a comprehensive, evidence-based program for monitoring your clinical effectiveness and tracking your professional development, one client at a time.

Evidence-based Practice One Client at a Time

On Becoming a Better Therapist

"At the root of many controversies surrounding therapy is one key question: What works? Is efficacy based on the singular curative powers of specialized techniques, or do other variables account for patient change? This book proposes the answer, which is not to be found in the languages, theories, or procedural differences of the field's warring camps. Instead, the answer lies in pantheoretical, or common factors--the ingredients of effective therapy shared by all orientations. /// More than 40 yrs of outcome research is pointing the way to what really matters in the therapist's day-to-day work. The editors have assembled researchers and practitioners in the field to analyze the extensive literature on common factors and to offer their own evaluations of what those data mean for therapy, therapists, and consumers. Consistent patterns are revealed in findings from multiple perspectives--clinical, research, quantitative and qualitative, individual and family, and medical and school. The result is a book that interprets the empirical foundation of how people change. Clinicians will especially appreciate the wealth of practical suggestions for using the common factors to improve their daily practice"--Jacket. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2006 APA, all rights reserved).

Barry L. Duncan

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