Introduction

I. The Consultation

1. First Contact

2. The First Moments

3. Initiating an Alliance and Assessing Safety

4. Enhancing the Therapeutic Alliance and Eliciting History

5. Collecting a Psychosocial History and Screening for Common Psychological Disorders

6. Creating a Formulation and a Treatment Plan

II. Frame and Variations

7. The Frame

8. Setting the Fee and Billing

9. Telephone Calls and Emails: From Dependencies to Emergencies

10. No-Shows, Late Arrivals, and Late Departures

11. When the Therapist’s Life Affects the Frame: Vacations, Pregnancies, and Illness

12. Confidentiality and Its Limits

III. Chemistry

13. Substance Use Disorders

14. Integrating Psychopharmacology with Psychotherapy

IV. Therapeutic Dilemmas

15. Managing Impasses

16. Empathic Lapses

17. Transference and Countertransference

18. Termination

V. Being a Therapist

19. Professional Development

Glossary

Additional Readings

References

Index