How Psychotherapy Works

How Psychotherapy Works synthesizes recent science to provide an accessible, practical, and clinically relevant understanding of the infrastructure underlying the hundreds of therapies in current use. In joining the best of modern neuroscience with a warm-hearted understanding of human troubles, the book guides beginning and experienced therapists to better therapy through clarity about what is happening now and what to do next. Both groundbreaking and paradigmatic, the book extends modern concepts of memory reconsolidation and thinking fast and slow to bring to light the nonconscious world where problematic patterns are frozen in time, waiting for empathic connection with a therapist. The final section of the book gives the reader a simple but sophisticated, science-based set of questions to apply to real-world pathology and therapeutic goals.

Jeffery Smith's work as a psychiatrist, therapist, teacher, and international leader is driven by a mission to improve the field of psychotherapy by combining science with the humanism clients need.

Introduction: How We Got Here And Why The Time For Change Is Now 1. A Foundation for Success 2. Psychotherapy Treats Entrenched Maladaptive Patterns 3. EMPS Come in Layers 4. Inner Selves, the Authors Of EMPs 5.The Plan 6. Inside Every EMP 7. Five Key Questions: A Method For Seeking Accurate Empathy 8. Three Mechanisms Of Change 9. Bring Affect into the Room 10. The Art of Disconfirmation 11. Hope, Motivation, and Development 12. Boundaries and Pitfalls 13. How This Framework Supports Many Therapies 14. The End of of a Voyage and the Beginning of a New One Appendix: Biology Meets Psychology - Some Notes