Effects of training in short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy: changes in graduate clinician technique

Abstract

Abstract This study investigates the effects of graduate clinician training in short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy (STPP; Book, 1998; Luborsky, 1984; Strupp & Binder, 1984; Wachtel, 1993) on the acquisition of techniques within and across two training cases. Sessions 3 and 9 from the first and second treatment cases of 15 graduate clinicians receiving structured training in STPP were examined for the frequency of psychodynamic–interpersonal (PI) therapeutic techniques. Results demonstrated that structured training in STPP led to a significantly increased use of PI therapeutic techniques both within and across cases. The authors also examined the frequency of cognitive–behavioral (CB) therapeutic techniques used by the graduate clinicians. No changes in the number of CB interventions were observed over the same set of sessions. Practical implications for the use of structured clinical training and issues pertinent to supervision in graduate education are reviewed. Finally, the impact of structured train...