Changing Character: Short-Term Anxiety-Regulating Psychotherapy for Restructuring Defenses, Affects, and Attachment

Rating:
Summary: A Practical, Integrative Approach for all Psychotherapists
Review: I teach and supervise graduate student trainees and interns in clinical/counseling psychology (MA and PsyD Level). All of my students have found that "Changing Character" has been very valuable and immediately useful to their work with clients. In this book, Valliant nicely integrates short-term psychodynamic treatment approaches with both object-relational and cognitive-behavioral research and theory. She also includes an easily understandable application of Sylvan Tomkins affect theory to this type work. Valliant offers practical examples of how to apply these concepts to real-life therapy situations. A must-have for all therapists at any level of experience who are interested in fine-tuning their technique to achieve better results for their clients who are in pain.

Rating:
Summary: Doing psychotherapy has never been easier!
Review: I teach and supervise graduate student trainees and interns in clinical/counseling psychology (MA and PsyD Level). All of my students have found that "Changing Character" has been very valuable and immediately useful to their work with clients. In this book, Valliant nicely integrates short-term psychodynamic treatment approaches with both object-relational and cognitive-behavioral research and theory. She also includes an easily understandable application of Sylvan Tomkins affect theory to this type work. Valliant offers practical examples of how to apply these concepts to real-life therapy situations. A must-have for all therapists at any level of experience who are interested in fine-tuning their technique to achieve better results for their clients who are in pain.

Rating:
Summary: This book will be useful to all psychotherapists
Review: In this book, Leigh McCullough Valliant shares her psychotherapy techniques for rapidly getting past defenses to feelings. Her methods will be useful both to beginning and experienced therapists, and are illustrated with dialogue from actual sessions (she routinely videotapes sessions). In these days of managed care, ways to help patients (clients) achieve deep change fast are especially needed. Although the book is full of pearls and interesting to read, my one criticism is that it is overlong. However, you can always skim any parts you find repetitious.

Rating:
Summary: Doing psychotherapy has never been easier!
Review: Using cognitive-behavioral techniques to understand psychodynamic concepts such as defenses/defensive behaviors, and self and other representations, and their restructuring, is such an innovative and non-psychodynamic-psychotherapist-friendly approach. Fascinated by object-relations theories, McCullough Vaillant's book is the first book that convinces me those theories are not just for reading but also for easy application in the healing process.