Michael J. Mahoney’s research while affiliated with University of North Texas and other places

Being a psychotherapist is a complex challenge. Research has suggested that therapists are changed by their work, but it has not been clear whether these changes are the same for research psychologists and practitioners. Representatives of these 2 groups were surveyed. Although therapists reported more anxiety, depression, and emotional exhaustion than did researchers, they were also more satisfied with their lives and more likely than researchers to feel that their work had influenced them in positive ways. Therapists' work as practitioners may be emotionally stressful but it may also enrich our lives.

The training of psychotherapists is a complex undertaking that necessarily reflects beliefs about the characteristics of a good (competent, effective) therapist. Essential themes in that training are (1) self-knowledge, (2) human relatedness, (3) compassion, (4) philosophy, (5) survival and coping skills, (6) value issues, and (7) lifespan development. These are elaborated as overlapping themes that are not adequately addressed by conventional academic coursework and didactic teaching formats. More important than the content of courses and curricula are the human context and learning atmosphere in training programs. Such contexts and atmospheres should encourage apprentices in their personal elaboration of the aforementioned themes. The result should be practitioners who exemplify self-awareness, an appreciation for the complex social fabric of modem existence, a genuine respect for and celebration of human diversity, a capacity to feel deeply, to imagine what others might be feeling, and to use those capacities in the service of others; an enduring fascination with ideas and inquiries into the mysteries of being; a capacity to explore, pretend, and experiment; the ability to cope and adapt, an ability to teach and to learn in the process, a sensitivity to value judgments and their powerful subtlety, and an appreciation for the individual dynamics of lifespan psychological development. Implications for training contexts are briefly addressed.

Psychotherapy practitioners ( N = 155) responded to an anonymous self-report questionnaire focused on their personal problems, their recent self-care patterns, and their attitudes toward personal therapy. The most frequently reported personal problems clustered around emotional exhaustion and fatigue, but these were concerns only among less than half of the sample. Personal therapy had been experienced by almost 90% of participants, and their average ratings of its value were very positive. Cost and accessibility were the most frequently noted concerns regarding personal therapy. These findings afford a more positive image of the personal life of the psychotherapist than has been rendered by previous surveys. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

Arguments that thoughts cannot have the power to cause or influence behavior are briefly addressed. Despite being couched in traditional behavioristic terminology, some of these arguments actually invoke the very dualism that they criticize. Likewise problematic are portrayals of scientific activity as being necessarily grounded in an ontology of physical extension and an epistemology that grants the visual system (and hence observability) sole and supreme authority. Contemporary cognitivists challenge classical mind-body dualism and refer to thoughts and other "mental" phenomena as activities of the living system. Three conclusions are drawn: (1) humans think, (2) human thinking influences human behavior, and vice-versa, and (3) dialogues on this topic would be well served by a refinement of the questions under consideration.

Three basic contentions of RET are briefly discussed, with particular emphasis on their implications for psychotherapy. Personal responsibility is seen as a prime directive and the cornerstone of the other two contentions, which involve emphases on the present and on action. The philosophical and dialectical emphases of rational emotive behavior therapy are acknowledged as important aspects of its continuing evolution.

This commentary addresses the origins and trajectory of the concepts of fate, will, agency, and determinism in Asian and Greco-Roman cultures, provides an analysis of the role of these concepts in the evolution of theological doctrine, and discusses the so-called “modern” and “post-modern” trends of both glorifying and gutting the “generic” human being as an agent of existential choice.

Comments on the articles by J. C. Norcross, A. A. Lazarus, R. T. Dolan et al, and L. E. Beutler and A. J. Consoli (see PA, Vols 18399, 18382, 18405, and 18374, respectively) and argues that therapeutic techniques and therapeutic relationships are not and cannot be mutually exclusive: they are inherently interrelated and interdependent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)

The cognitive psychotherapies have developed and substantially differentiated since their inception in the 1950s. Six major themes in their theoretical development are discussed: (a) the differentiation of rationalist and constructivist therapies and metatheories of knowing; (b) the acknowledgement of social, biological, and embodiment processes in therapy; (c) the recognition of unconscious processes; (d) an increasing focus on self-organizing and self-protective processes in life span personality development, with such processes being embedded in interpersonal and social system dynamics; (e) a shift toward different views of emotionality and the incorporation of experiential techniques; and (f) a synergistic involvement in the psychotherapy integration movement. The cognitive psychotherapies reflect remarkable activity, a point illustrated and elaborated in the articles that constitute this special section.

The complexities involved in encountering and counseling the "postmodern" self in psychotherapy are illustrated via a single session with a client whose self-presentation and in-session behavior were unusual and perplexing. No conclusions are offered.

The clinical technology developed by cognitive behavioral practitioners has become the foundation for psychological efforts to enhance athletic performance. To provide a backdrop for this sport intervention research, the history of applied sport psychology is briefly noted. Then, the empirical literature which supportes the use of cognitive behavioral intervention strategies in athletic contexts is considered. This work includes the treatment evaluation evidence for performance improvement of non-elite sport participants, and correlational evidence that supports the consideration of psychological variables in the performance of elite athletes. The intervention strategies under review include imagery and mental rehearsal, arousal management, goal-setting, self-instruction and self-monitoring, and multi-component treatment programs. The implications of this research for applied sport psychology and the broader field of clinical intervention are discussed.