Talking Helps: An Evidence-Based Approach to Psychoanalytic Counseling

"Talking Helps: An Evidence-Based Approach to Psychoanalytic Counseling is a unique textbook for those new to the mental health field and for those experienced with other forms of therapy. It contains case studies, practical suggestions, and exercises that are absent of superfluous language and serve two purposes. First, it introduces students to talk therapy and its importance as a viable researched treatment method. Second, the book prepares aspiring therapists to blend psychodynamic treatment with the approaches of community-based systems, particularly educational institutions.

Many treatments focus on pathology and symptom relief. In contrast, Talking Helps focuses on psychoanalytic counseling and the process of freeing a patient from patterns that no longer provide satisfaction or impede life goals. Talking Helps teaches students about understanding what behavior communicates, the importance of slowing down, being in the moment, thinking, feeling, and authentically listening. The book encourages careful and thoughtful approaches to counseling and intervention so that talk therapy can be successfully implemented inside and outside the treatment room,

Written for the aspiring practitioner interested in self-awareness and self-reflection as important professional competencies, Talking Helps is designed to complement the most common types of treatments in the field. It can be used for upper level undergraduate courses in psychotherapy or clinical psychology, as well as graduate courses in counseling, psychology, and social work.

Dr. William Sharp is a lecturer at Northeastern University and in private practice as a psychoanalyst. His research interests include theories of personality, human development, applied clinical psychology, and counseling/counselor training. Dr. Sharp has written about the practice of therapy for Modern Psychoanalysis and the International Journal of Group Psychotherapy and has presented workshops on social and emotional development. He is adjunct faculty at Wheelock College and the Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, where he earned his doctorate in psychoanalysis."