Continuing Education Provider Professional Development Resources Publishes New Home Study Course on How Psychotherapy Works

JACKSONVILLE, FL, April 17, 2013 (Press-News.org) Professional Development Resources has announced a new addition to its online continuing education (CE) curriculum for mental health professionals: The Heart and Soul of Change: Delivering What Works in Therapy. The course is designed to help psychotherapists learn and use the factors that are essential in bringing about true change in therapy.

This course reviews 50 years of psychotherapy research, distills the common factors associated with change, and presents them in a clear and straightforward manner for practicing clinicians. It has two purposes: first, to provide an up-to-date account of what is known about what works in therapy; and second, to explain specifically how these healing factors can be used in actual clinical practice.

"In all of the diverse forms of therapy practiced today, there are a few common themes that keep popping up in studies about what happens in successful therapy," says Leo Christie, President and CEO of Professional Development Resources. "This book is a one-of-a-kind manual for all types of psychotherapists. It de-mystifies the therapeutic process and provides answers to the question 'what works in psychotherapy, and why?'"

Topics include factors that are specific to individual clients and therapists, the nature and quality of the therapeutic alliance, the common factors approach, concerns and risks in psychiatric drug treatment, outcome monitoring (practice-based evidence), and common factors for specific populations (youth psychotherapy, couple and family psychotherapy, and substance abuse/dependence treatment).

The Heart and Soul of Change: Delivering What Works in Therapy starts with the simple proposition that what the therapist does is far less important than who the therapist is. Emphasis is clearly on the person-to-person alliance between the client and the therapist, which keeps the focus "client-centered," that is, assuring that the client gets precisely what he or she wants out of therapy.

The authors challenge readers to maintain an edge of critical thinking in approaching two of the more controversial issues in psychotherapy today - evidence-based practice and pharmacotherapy. Regarding the literature on evidence-based practice, much of it seems to suggest that certain techniques may be more effective than others. In this book, the emphasis is on the personal relationship between therapist and client, not on the techniques the therapist uses. They use the term "practice-based evidence" to describe this approach.

Regarding pharmacotherapy, the authors disclose the fact that they object to the medicalization of psychotherapy because the data do not support it. They believe that using drugs for behavioral and emotional issues establishes a view of clients as patients with illnesses who require treatment from experts administering powerful interventions. According to the authors: "Although some clients may be helped some of the time with this focus [use of pharmaceuticals], it misdirects the field away from an empirically based understanding of what is responsible for change. Additionally, it promotes prescriptive treatments of questionable sustainability, fraught with potentially dangerous effects."

Special sections discuss the need for therapists to routinely monitor treatment outcomes, effective psychotherapy with youth, therapy with couples and families, and what works in substance abuse and dependence treatment. The guiding principle of the book is this:

"Psychotherapy is implemented one person at a time, on the basis of that unique individual's perception of the progress and fit of the therapy and the therapist."

About Professional Development Resources, Inc.

Professional Development Resources is a Florida nonprofit educational corporation founded in 1992 by licensed marriage and family therapist Leo Christie, PhD. The company, which is accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA), the Association of Social Work Boards (ASWB), the National Board for Certified Counselors (NBCC), the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA), and the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics - as well as many other national and state boards - has focused its efforts on making accredited continuing education units more cost-effective and widely accessible to health professionals by offering online home study coursework. Its current expanded curriculum includes a wide variety of clinical topics intended to equip health professionals to offer state-of-the art services to their clients.

Contact:
Leo Christie, PhD, CEO
Professional Development Resources, Inc.
904-645-3456
http://www.pdresources.org/

Professional Development Resources is a national provider of accredited continuing education units for psychologists, social workers, counselors, and marriage and family therapists.