Focused Expressive Psychotherapy : Freeing the Overcontrolled Patient

This is the first practical book from an experiential perspective to deal explicitly with blocked affect. Based on the authors' extensive clinical experience and their NIMH-sponsored research, focused expressive psychotherapy (FEP) is shown to be ideally suited for the many over controlled patients mired in "unfinished emotional business." A complete approach in one volume, the reader is given the underlying psychological assumptions of FEP as well as its principles, therapeutic procedures, and assessment techniques. The book delineates the roles and responsibilities of both the therapist and client, presents FEP's five-step procedure, and describes its therapeutic methods and techniques. The design of experiments and problems are illustrated with segments from actual sessions, and evaluation procedures are provided so that both therapist and patient can assess the progress being made. Complete FEP sessions with explanatory comments are included so that the reader can follow the entire FEP process from the beginning to the end of the session. Among the many professionals who will find FOCUSED EXPRESSIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY an invaluable resource are: marriage and family therapists, professionals working with violence and abuse in penal settings or rape crisis centers, suicide prevention personnel, school counselors and administrators, grief therapists, drug and alcohol rehabilitation therapists, and any psychiatrist, psychologist, social worker, counselor-therapist, or mental health worker who deals with clients with constricted emotions. An excellent text for graduate courses on psychological theory or counseling techniques and process, FOCUSED EXPRESSIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY offers students in the mental health field much that will help them develop into professionals.