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“This is an excellent and timely book. It is well written, well documented, and very compelling in its message. This book should be required reading in any graduate program that trains therapists.”

—Child and Family Behavior Therapy


“This volume should be required reading for anyone entering the mental health professions. Clear, easy to read, and eminently practical, it offers a needed counterbalance to the focus on manuals and therapeutic techniques that characterizes so much of therapist training. The text lays out the basic skills that any therapist, using any model of intervention, needs in order to be effective. What a refreshing perspective! The field of psychotherapy needs the wisdom in this text. We need to be reminded of the basic truth that interventions offered with skilled compassion and empathy are the essence of effective psychotherapy.”

—Susan M. Johnson, EdD, Professor Emeritus of Clinical Psychology, University of Ottawa, Canada; Distinguished Research Professor, Marital and Family Therapy Program, Alliant International University, San Diego


“At long last, a book about the most important factor in psychotherapy—the person who delivers the treatment. And who better to author a book about effective psychotherapists than Miller and Moyers? Discussing the most crucial skills that therapists need to learn, this is a clinically focused presentation with a solid scientific basis. To top it off, Miller and Moyers discuss how the skills should be taught and learned through deliberate practice. This is an invaluable read for any practicing therapist and essential for all trainees. It is a solid supplemental text for a counseling theories course or primary text for a course on basic clinical skills.”

—Bruce E. Wampold, PhD, ABPP, Department of Counseling Psychology (Emeritus), University of Wisconsin–Madison


“If I had a dime for every time I heard a therapist say, ‘The relationship is the most important ingredient in psychotherapy,’ I’d be wealthy. Finally, we have a book that translates this old bromide into clinical skills that actually improve client outcomes. If achieving better results is your professional development objective, Effective Psychotherapists provides the roadmap to success.”

—Scott D. Miller, PhD, Director, International Center for Clinical Excellence


“Many practitioners conflate therapeutic effectiveness with a full caseload or professional reputation, but, to paraphrase Forrest Gump, effectiveness is as effectiveness does. Here’s a definitive account on how to do effective therapy. Rooted in clinical science and grounded in the therapeutic relationship, this book demonstrates how you can improve your own relationship competencies and thus your outcomes. Cutting-edge science and application that both Carl Rogers and B. F. Skinner would endorse!”

—John C. Norcross, PhD, ABPP, Distinguished Professor and Chair of Psychology, University of Scranton


“Concise yet thorough, this user-friendly guide will be an excellent primary text for graduate students from multiple disciplines who are learning to be counselors and psychotherapists. Miller and Moyers do a masterful job articulating the essential qualities of the therapist and the critical processes in the therapeutic relationship. This clearly crafted book empowers new behavioral health professionals to master the therapeutic and relationship skills necessary to be effective helpers and healers. It will also serve as a welcome companion for counselors and psychotherapists well into their careers—it offers guidance and pearls of wisdom for collaborating with clients in ways that promote positive change and growth.”

—Nadine J. Kaslow, PhD, ABPP, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University School of Medicine; past president, American Psychological Association

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Table of Contents

Preface

I. Helping Relationships

1. An Invitation

2. Therapist Effects

II. Therapeutic Skills

3. Accurate Empathy

4. Acceptance

5. Positive Regard

6. Genuineness

7. Focus

8. Hope

9. Evocation

10. Offering Information and Advice

11. The Far Side of Complexity

III. Learning, Training, and Clinical Science

12. Developing Expertise

13. Teaching Therapeutic Skills

14. Toward a Broader Clinical Science

References

Index

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About the Authors

William R. Miller, PhD, is Emeritus Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry at the University of New Mexico. He introduced motivational interviewing in a 1983 article and in the first edition of Motivational Interviewing (1991), coauthored with Stephen Rollnick. Dr. Miller’s research has focused particularly on the treatment and prevention of addictions and more broadly on the psychology of change. He is a recipient of two career achievement awards from the American Psychological Association, the international Jellinek Memorial Award, and an Innovators Award from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, among many other honors. His publications include 65 books and over 400 articles and chapters. His website is https://williamrmiller.net.

• Author's website
• All titles by William R. Miller

Theresa B. Moyers, PhD, is Associate Professor of Psychology at the University of New Mexico, where she conducts research on treatments for addictive behaviors, with a focus on motivational interviewing (MI). Her primary interests are identifying the active ingredients of MI as well optimal methods for disseminating it in addictions settings. Dr. Moyers has published more than 35 peer-reviewed articles and has presented on MI and addictions treatment in 16 countries. She is a member of the Motivational Interviewing Network of Trainers. In addition to her academic pursuits, she trains and competes with her border collie in the sport of dog agility.Her website is www.theresamoyers.com.

• All titles by Theresa B. Moyers

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Audience

Practitioners and graduate students in clinical psychology, clinical social work, psychiatric nursing, counseling, and psychiatry.

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Course Use

Will serve as a text in graduate-level clinical practice and psychotherapy courses, as well as in residency training.