1st Edition
How to Think and Intervene Like a Single-Session Therapist
Therapists new to Single-Session Therapy (SST) will often struggle to bring the SST mindset to the work and will in turn struggle to help their clients get the most out of the time that they choose to spend together.
How to Think and Intervene Like a Single-Session Therapist provides the trainee with an opportunity to discover how experienced therapists think, and how their thoughts influence their interventions within the single-session context. Presenting SST in a way that both interests conventional therapists and shows the potential of this way of delivering therapy services, Windy Dryden details the multiple levels of thinking and intervening that go into single-session practice. He covers the orientation thinking experienced SST therapists have about the work when they are not doing it, the pre-session thinking they engage in while actively preparing to do the work, and the in-session thinking they engage in while doing the work. The book outlines the theory behind SST and the ways those ideas form its practice, using clinical vignettes and case scenarios to demonstrate how single-session therapists can make the best use of the limited time with their clients. The book additionally presents an ongoing dialogue between an SST therapist and a conventional therapist to highlight the thinking of the former and how the criticisms of SST by the latter can be responded to.
This highly practical guide will be essential reading for any therapist who is new to or has recently been introduced to the practice of SST.
Part I: SST ‘Orientation’ Thinking 1. One Session or More – Be Open to Both Possibilities 2. Help at the Point of Need 3. It Is Possible to Conduct a Session in SST Without Prior Knowledge of the Person 4. View the Session as a Whole, Complete in Itself 5. Potentially Anyone Can Be Helped in a Single Session 6. Focus on the Person, Not the Disorder 7. The Client-Therapist Relationship Can Be Established Rapidly 8. SST is Client-Led 9. The Power of Now 10. Less is More 11. Take Nothing for Granted Part II: SST ‘Pre-Session’ Thinking 12. Informing Potential Clients About SST 13. Responding to Potential Clients’ Questions About SST 14. Eliciting Informed Consent From Clients 15. Helping Clients to Prepare for the Session 16. Preparing Oneself for the Session Part III: SST ‘In-Session’ Thinking 17. Beginning the Session 18. Helping the Client to Nominate a Goal 19. Discovering What Help the Client is Seeking from the Therapist 20. Creating a Focus and Maintaining it 21. Understanding the Problem 22. Searching for a Solution 23. Embedding the Solution 24. Encouraging the Client to Rehearse the Solution 25. Helping the Client to Develop and Implement an Action Plan 26. Ending the Session Afterword: After the Session Appendices
Biography
Windy Dryden is in clinical and consultative practice and is an international authority on Single-Session Therapy. He is Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. He has worked in psychotherapy for more than 45 years and is the author or editor of over 275 books.
