Mastering the Inner Skills of Psychotherapy

Do you ever find that you are less effective with clients who are provocative, angry, shut down, or emotionally labile? Would you like to be more effective helping clients with challenging problems, including trauma, addictions, and comorbid conditions? Clients can arouse strong emotional reactions in therapists, often termed experiential avoidance or countertransference. To be effective with these challenging cases, therapists must build their psychological capacity to stay self-aware, attuned, and clinically flexible while having strong reactions. This manual provides clear and practical deliberate practice exercises to help you master these inner skills so you can be a more effective therapist and enjoy your work more. This manual features a training plan that is based on the principles of deliberate practice, works with all major models of psychotherapy, aids all levels of therapist development, from beginning trainees to experienced clinicians, helps therapists be more effective with their most challenging clients, and protects the boundaries and privacy of trainees. Louis G. Castonguay, Professor, at Penn State University, said the book "is an innovative addition to the movement of deliberate practice," and that "this book offers troves of ideas, tools, and resources for therapists of varied theoretical orientations and experience levels." Catherine Eubanks, president-elect of the society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration, commented that "by practical techniques for increasing therapists’ capacity to be present and attuned in the therapy session, Rousmaniere draws attention to one of the most important ways to advance our field and improve our ability to help our patients."