Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapists

Book excerpt: This book 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, this book shows it is possible for any therapist to dramatically improve their clinical skills. To improve, therapists must focus on clinical challenges and reconsider century-old methods of clinical training from the ground up. This second edition traces recent developments in research and 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. Enriched with insightful clinical experiences and anecdotes, Deliberate Practice for Psychotherapists is an important read for graduate students, trainees, and practicing psychotherapists.