Research for the Psychotherapist

Jay Lebow, PhD, ABPP, LMFT, is senior scholar and senior therapist at the Family Institute at Northwestern and clinical professor of psychology at Northwestern University. He is editor-in-chief of Family Process and has authored/edited 7 books including Couple and Family Therapy, Clinical Handbook of Couple Therapy, Handbook of Family Therapy, and Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. He served as president of the Society of Couple and Family Psychology and has received the Society’s Family Psychologist of the Year award as well as the American Family Therapy Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Paul Jenkins is a licensed clinical psychologist with over 30 years’ professional experience. He is an associate professor of psychology at National University, serving as regional lead and practicum coordinator for the Master of Arts in Counseling program in Rancho Cordova, and has a private psychotherapy practice in Sacramento, California.

"The field of psychotherapy has struggled in its attempts to close the gap between research and practice. Although the practicing clinician and psychotherapy researcher are both interested in how to help people in distress, they all too often fail to benefit from each other’s contributions. This thoughtful and invaluable review of clinical research findings, tailored specifically for the practicing clinician, represents a most important step in closing this gap." Marvin R. Goldfried, PhD, distinguished professor, Psychology Department, Stony Brook University"Lebow and Jenkin’s 2nd edition of Research for the Psychotherapist comes at just the right time—when all clinicians are asked to be knowledgeable about the evidence that our treatments are effective and informed by science. Thank you, Lebow and Jenkins, for making psychotherapy research eminently understandable! They help us see why it is so important to test various approaches to vexing human problems. And they instill a value about the importance of systematic study to the day-to-day reality of being an effective psychotherapist. Lebow and Jenkins help us move toward greater integration of science and practice by making the science clear and understandable and the issues that drive its quality fascinating and worthy of our attention. If you want to become a better therapist, read this book!"Susan McDaniel, PhD ABPP, Dr. Laurie Sands Distinguished Professor of Families & Health, director, Institute for the Family, Department of Psychiatry, vice chair, Department of Family Medicine, University of Rochester Medical Center

• Part I: Foundations of Psychotherapy and Psychotherapy Research 1. Introduction 2. Merging Science and Practice in Psychotherapy 3. A Clinician’s Primer for Evaluating Research About Psychotherapy 4. How Do We Know What is True? Part II: Research Focused on Psychotherapy 5. What Can We Say About the Effectiveness of Psychotherapy? 6. Introduction To Empirically Supported Treatment 7. The Push For Evidence: Defining The Role Of Evidence Based Practice 8. The Science of Clinical Artistry: Research-Based Principles for Effective Practice 9. Integrating Stages of Change with Psychotherapy 10. Beyond Intuition: Research on Psychotherapeutic Process 11. Evidence-Based Treatments for Anxiety 12. Mindfulness Goes Mainstream: Research is Proving the Value of Awareness Processes 13. Act and The Third Wave of CBT 14. Improving Our Track Record: How Therapists Can Better Meet the Needs of the Disadvantaged 15. Addictions Treatment: Myth Vs. Reality 16. Reassessing Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors: Separating Hype From Fact About Antidepressants 17. War of the Worlds: Researchers and Practitioners Collide on Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) and Critical Incident Stress Debriefing (CISD) 18. The Messenger is the Message: The Effectiveness of Treatment Still Depends on Who Delivers It Part III: Research Focused on or Relevant to Couple and Family Therapy 19. Family Therapy Scorecard: Research Shows the Family Approach is Often the Treatment of Choice 20. What Do We Know About Couples Therapy? 21. Marital Preparation and Enrichment Programs Document Their Value 22. Emerging Evidence in The Research About Divorce 23. Not Quite the Brady Bunch: Research on Remarriage Families 24. What Really Makes Couples Happy? A Controversy Divides the World Of Marital Researchers 25. Methods of Relational Assessment Part IV: Doing Research on Your Practice 26. New Science for Psychotherapy: Can We Predict How Therapy Will Progress? 27. Learning to Love Assessment: Today’s Research Tools to Assess Progress Can Help You be a Better Therapist 28. Do-It-Yourself Research: The Practical Advantages of Studying Your Own Practice 29. Models for Evaluating Psychotherapy Practices And Community Mental Health Programs: Public Health Perspectives Part V: Research in Psychology That Informs the Practice of Psychotherapy 30. Defending the Family: Beware of the Biogenetic Bandwagon 31. Aging: Fact and Fiction 32. Beyond The Sugar Pill: Clarifying the Placebo Effect 33. Keys to Enhancing Performance 34. The Controversy Around Psychodiagnosis