Overview

In an era where instant gratification has filtered into training programs geared toward technique-driven solutions, Embracing Therapeutic Complexity takes a step back and re-introduces fundamental touchstones that enable clinicians to apply an integrative treatment model in the service of in-depth healing and growth. Using attachment theory as a bridge, this text connects key principles and practices that cut across various therapeutic disciplines and combines them into a unified framework where readers do not have to ""put aside"" their expertise in order to benefit from the skill sets provided in this book. In addition, this text addresses the impact that power and privilege have had on shaping our psychological constructs, and it challenges cultural assumptions and blind spots that have shaped our treatment approaches in the past. Furthermore, this book illustrates how the application of psychodynamic principles can be combined with advances in trauma treatment, thus offering a practical guide for both beginning and seasoned therapists to amplify and expand their current clinical expertise.

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9780367636852

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Reviews

Finally, a panacea to the incompetence of manualized and technique-based approaches to treatment! This book is destined to become an invaluable training guide for developing solid psychotherapeutic integration skills that address the complexity and psychodynamic nuances of the contemporary patient. Dr. Gianotti's approach should be taught to every student of psychotherapy. Jon Mills, Psy.D., Ph.D., ABPP, Postgraduate Programs in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, Adelphi University; Department of Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex; Author of Treating Attachment Pathology Psychoanalysis is not now, and has not been for decades, what many psychotherapists still think it is. Analysts today are centrally concerned with relationship, from the beginning of life, and attachment processes lie at the heart of the theory. Relational psychoanalysis has done much to promote these changes, and so this literature contributes directly and naturally to the general field of psychotherapy. Dr. Gianotti performs a great service by introducing relational psychoanalytic ideas to students and independent professionals who are interested in these ideas, but don't know how to find their way into them. She makes this introduction in the most practical way, presenting the material in a way that is sensitive to the changing realities of clinical practice, and to practitioners' uncertainty and worry about 'losing their way.' The book is full of clinical material and will be of interest both to those looking for a route of access into today's psychodynamic thinking and to psychoanalysts interested in contextualizing their work within the broader field of psychotherapy. Donnel Stern, Ph.D., Author, The Infinity of the Unsaid: Unformulated Experience, Language, and the Nonverbal With this book, Patricia Gianotti offers a remedy for what ails current psychotherapies. Under pressure for quick fixes and inundated with modalities, today's therapists get lost and de-skilled. Gianotti suggests they ground themselves in certain complexities all therapies share, and she shows them how. She offers elegant big-picture maps that capture the interplay of self-expressive and shame-protective forces in patients' psychologies. She explains loyalty contracts that block therapeutic progress. She argues for rigorous case conceptualization that includes patients' developmental and cultural contexts. A master clinician and teacher, Gianotti demonstrates how to drop down through language to right-brain moment-to-moment therapeutic presence, how to navigate psychic splits with delicate compassion, and how to finesse the power of transference for change. This is not a text on learning how to be a skillful relational psychodynamic practitioner, though it will serve that purpose well. As Gianotti intends, it invites all practitioners into a big tent of understanding what they're doing, offering relief from confusion and self-doubt. With contextual understanding of their patients' suffering and permission to slow the process down, therapists can re-discover the healing connection that underpins all helpful interventions. Patricia DeYoung, MSW, Ph.D., Author, Relational Psychotherapy: A Primer for Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: Healing Right Brain Relational Trauma A 'must read' for student therapists and senior clinicians alike, Dr. Gianotti takes the rich cacophony of contemporary psychodynamic theory and creates her own unique synthesis. Clear, concise, and jargon-free, these concepts are now ready to be put to use in the clinical encounter. Her approach to psychodynamic formulation and understanding psychopathology are not pathologizing. Instead, Dr. Gianotti emphasizes how symptoms evolve and serve to protect and stabilize a fragile self. In addition she outlines specific clinical interventions, with abundant examples, that show how her psychodynamically-informed approach can help a therapist engage even those patients most resistant to change. This book is a great resource. Rafael D. Ornstein, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Dr. Gianotti has written a sophisticated, nuanced, scientifically based book that takes psychotherapy into the 21st century. This excellent volume provides practical guidance for new practitioners but has so much depth that even experienced therapists will return to it time and again when confronted with difficult situations that inevitably arise with complex patients. Kudos to Dr. Gianotti for integrating neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and evidence-based therapeutic techniques. Barbara Ziv, M.D., Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University Medical School, Forensic Psychiatry expert for the prosecution in the Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein trials

Finally, a panacea to the incompetence of manualized and technique-based approaches to treatment! This book is destined to become an invaluable training guide for developing solid psychotherapeutic integration skills that address the complexity and psychodynamic nuances of the contemporary patient. Dr. Gianotti's approach should be taught to every student of psychotherapy. - Jon Mills, PsyD, PhD, ABPP, Postgraduate Programs in Psychoanalysis & Psychotherapy, Adelphi University; Department of Psychosocial & Psychoanalytic Studies, University of Essex; Author of Treating Attachment Pathology. Psychoanalysis is not now, and has not been for decades, what many psychotherapists still think it is. Analysts today are centrally concerned with relationship, from the beginning of life, and attachment processes lie at the heart of the theory. Relational psychoanalysis has done much to promote these changes, and so this literature contributes directly and naturally to the general field of psychotherapy. Dr. Gianotti performs a great service by introducing relational psychoanalytic ideas to students and independent professionals who are interested in these ideas, but don't know how to find their way into them. She makes this introduction in the most practical way, presenting the material in a way that is sensitive to the changing realities of clinical practice, and to practitioners' uncertainty and worry about losing their way. The book is full of clinical material and will be of interest both to those looking for a route of access into today's psychodynamic thinking and to psychoanalysts interested in contextualizing their work within the broader field of psychotherapy. - Donnel Stern, Ph.D., Author, The Infinity of the Unsaid: Unformulated Experience, Language, and the Nonverbal With this book, Patricia Gianotti offers a remedy for what ails current psychotherapies. Under pressure for quick fixes and inundated with modalities, today's therapists get lost and de-skilled. Gianotti suggests they ground themselves in certain complexities all therapies share, and she shows them how. She offers elegant big-picture maps that capture the interplay of self-expressive and shame-protective forces in patients' psychologies. She explains loyalty contracts that block therapeutic progress. She argues for rigorous case conceptualization that includes patients' developmental and cultural contexts. A master clinician and teacher, Gianotti demonstrates how to drop down through language to right-brain moment-to-moment therapeutic presence, how to navigate psychic splits with delicate compassion, and how to finesse the power of transference for change. This is not a text on learning how to be a skillful relational psychodynamic practitioner, though it will serve that purpose well. As Gianotti intends, it invites all practitioners into a big tent of understanding what they're doing, offering relief from confusion and self-doubt. With contextual understanding of their patients' suffering and permission to slow the process down, therapists can re-discover the healing connection that underpins all helpful interventions. - Patricia DeYoung, MSW, PhD, Author, Relational Psychotherapy: A Primer for Understanding and Treating Chronic Shame: Healing Right Brain Relational Trauma A 'must read' for student therapists and senior clinicians alike, Dr. Gianotti takes the rich cacophony of contemporary psychodynamic theory and creates her own unique synthesis. Clear, concise, and jargon-free, these concepts are now ready to be put to use in the clinical encounter. Her approach to psychodynamic formulation and understanding psychopathology are not pathologizing. Instead, Dr. Gianotti emphasizes how symptoms evolve and serve to protect and stabilize a fragile self. In addition she outlines specific clinical interventions, with abundant examples, that show how her psychodynamically-informed approach can help a therapist engage even those patients most resistant to change. This book is a great resource. - Rafael D. Ornstein, M.D., Instructor in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School Dr. Gianotti has written a sophisticated, nuanced, scientifically based book that takes psychotherapy into the 21st century. This excellent volume provides practical guidance for new practitioners but has so much depth that even experienced therapists will return to it time and again when confronted with difficult situations that inevitably arise with complex patients. Kudos to Dr. Gianotti for integrating neuroscience, psychoanalysis, and evidence-based therapeutic techniques. - Barbara Ziv, M.D. Adjunct Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Temple University Medical School, Forensic Psychiatry expert for the prosecution in the Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein trials

Author Information

Patricia Gianotti, Psy.D., is the Academic Director of The Institute for Advanced Psychotherapy at Loyola University Chicago and co-author of two earlier books, Listening with Purpose and Uncovering the Resilient Core.

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