Master Therapists

The search for the best outcomes in psychotherapy and counseling has been a long and winding trail. Traditional research methods attempting to quantify expertise have yet to map the complex path and characteristics of expert psychotherapists and counselors. This book blazes a new trail using extensive qualitative research methods to understand psychotherapy experts. Ten peer-nominated, active practitioners representing four different professions were interviewed by three interviewers for a total of over 100 hours. Based on the data from these interviews, we offer a portrait of the master therapist as well as an exploration of central characteristics, emotional wellness and resiliency of masters, how they construct the therapy relationship, ethical values of these experts, a history of the concept of expertise, and a description of our research methods. Master Therapists continues to be a valuable resource for counseling and therapy practitioners and scholars because it explicates the cognitive, emotional, and relational (CER) model of counseling expertise and provides the initial context for the more recent surge of expertise studies in counseling and psychotherapy. This research-based qualitative work provides essential signposts and markers on the road to psychotherapy expertise.