Insight in Psychotherapy

Defining insight as "the acquisition of new understanding," the contributors of these 21 articles delineate and integrate what is currently known of this rich, complex, but difficult to understand process in psychotherapy. They describe insight at the theoretical level, including its place in psychodynamic, experiential and cognitive-behavior therapies as well as couple and family therapy, and its role as a stage of assimilation and as a common factor in a range of theories. They describe research into insight in discourse analysis, client-centered therapy, the Hill dream model, and emotional processing and give a review of empirical literature, then describe clinical issues such as the active client, therapist/client insights into counter-transference, insight development and destruction between sessions and growth of supervisor insight. They close with a range of philosophical and psychological views on insight and a preview of studies on insight and their applications. Annotation c2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)