Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapists

by Tony Rousmaniere

This text explores how psychotherapists can use deliberate practice to improve their clinical effectiveness. By sourcing through decades of research on how experts in diverse fields achieve skill mastery, the author proposes it is possible for any therapist to dramatically improve their effectiveness. However, achieving expertise isn’t easy. To improve, therapists must focus on clinical challenges and reconsider century-old methods of clinical training from the ground up. This volume presents a step-by-step program to engage readers in deliberate practice to improve clinical effectiveness across the therapists’ entire career span, from beginning training for graduate students to continuing education for licensed and advanced clinicians.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction

238 pages, Paperback

Published November 29, 2016

Reviews

[Melvin Marsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like the idea of this and what I could become. However, it is really challenging to deal with because not everyone thinks the same way! Psychologists don't want to change what they are doing even if it is more successful. No one can handle the truth and that truth is that we need to get better at doing therapy.

[Ina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nothing outstanding in terms of writing but the general idea of deliberate practice (DP) being applied to psychotherapy as presented by the author is very valuable in my opinion. I think most therapists would benefit from reading the book and the author's ideas, suggestions and critiques. However, don't expect a definitive guide to DP. Rather, the book gives a good rationale for the practice of DP (and thus, motivation for it!), general characteristics of DP and guidelines to get you started on your practice. After that, you'd probably have to do a lot of tweaking and filling in the blanks yourself; but in a barren, almost DP-less land, that's to be expected, I think, and it's still quite commendable.

[Flo · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars - I had to read this for class this weekend and I thought it made some good pointers and conveyed an interesting concept/idea for my future career as a psychologist. It wasn't the most exciting book I've ever read, obviously, but I found it educational and interesting to consider as I continue my graduate career and start externship this summer, especially given the things we have already talked about in this particular class this semester. I definitely found it very readable as opposed to a boring textbook that I had to slog through, which was definitely a plus for me.

[Adrian · Rating 5 out of 5]

Persuasive about the value of deliberate practice, and presents potentially intimidating material in a totally non-intimidating way. Exciting new development in the field!

[Katie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked the suggestions offered in this book. The therapist raises some very relevant points, however, the further into the book I got the more discouraged I became by how difficult and time consuming it may be putting the "deliberate" into practice. Well worth a discussion between therapists, colleagues, and supervisors in the psychotherapy field.

[Jackson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic, sometimes i would get annoyed at the repeated phrases throughout the book, but repetition in understanding an idea can be helpful i suppose. Deliberate practice can also be applied into up and coming fields that are consider by many more art then science.

[恬 张 · Rating 5 out of 5]

How to help with the other 50%. How to be a better psychotherapist.