Personalizing Psychotherapy Assessing and Accommodating Patient Preferences

This book provides detailed guidance on assessing and accommodating patient preferences for the psychotherapist, the therapeutic approach, and treatment activities.

Blending empirical research and clinical expertise into easy-to-read advice, Drs. John Norcross and Mick Cooper offer multiple strategies for routinely assessing preferences as they evolve over the course of therapy, focusing primarily on strong likes and dislikes.

They describe multiple tools for rapidly and reliably measuring preferences in session, including their Cooper-Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP).
 
Four key strategies for accommodating a client's preferences are explored in depth: adopting them into treatment, adapting the therapist's approach, exploring alternative preferences, and referring the patient to another practitioner if necessary.

The authors describe the limitations of personalization and how to avoid common errors, such as therapists assuming they know what clients want. Training and supervision strategies are also featured.
 
Clinical cases and patient–therapist dialogues demonstrate how to evaluate and integrate client preferences in a respectful, ethical, and professional manner that leads to enhanced alliances and improved outcomes.

John C. Norcross, PhD, ABPP, is Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychology at the University of Scranton, Clinical Professor of Psychiatry at SUNY Upstate Medical University, and a board-certified clinical psychologist. He has coauthored or edited 22 books, including the APA Handbook of Clinical Psychology, Systems of Psychotherapy, Insider’s Guide to Graduate Programs in Clinical and Counseling Psychology, and Psychotherapy Relationships That Work. Dr. Norcross has been elected president of multiple organizations, including the APA Society of Clinical Psychology, APA Division of Psychotherapy, and Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration. He lives in northeast Pennsylvania. Visit www.scranton.edu/faculty/norcross/.

Mick Cooper, D.Phil., is Professor of Counselling Psychology at the University of Roehampton, where he directs the Centre for Research in Social and Psychological Transformation. Dr. Cooper is a Fellow of the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy. He is author and editor of multiple texts on person-centered, existential, and relational approaches to therapy, including Working at Relational Depth in Counselling and Psychotherapy, Existential Therapies, and Integrating Counselling and Psychotherapy. Dr. Cooper has led a series of research studies exploring the processes and outcomes of humanistic counselling with young people. He lives in Brighton, England. Visit https://mick-cooper.squarespace.com/ or https://pure.roehampton.ac.uk/portal/en/persons/mick-cooper.

Introduction: Using Client Characteristics to Guide Therapy
Chapter 1. A New Psychotherapy for Each Patient
Chapter 2. The Research Evidence
Chapter 3. The Clinical Evidence
Chapter 4. General Strategies for Assessing Client Preferences
Chapter 5. Assessment With the Cooper–Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP) and Other Measures
Chapter 6. Implementing Client Preferences in Treatment
Chapter 7. Patient Preferences in Training and Supervision
Chapter 8. Limitations and Contraindications of Personalizing Psychotherapy
Chapter 9. Toward an Evidence-Based Bespoke Psychotherapy
Appendix: The Cooper–Norcross Inventory of Preferences (C-NIP)
References
Index
About the Authors