Exploring the psychotherapists' development
Cofounder of the Society for Psychotherapy Research and initiator of The International Study of the Development of Psychotherapists, Professor David Orlinsky, will give an honorary degree acceptance speech entitled “The Psychotherapeutic Relationship, Personal Life, and Modern Culture".
Professor David Orlinsky has received an award for teaching excellence by the University of Chicago. Photo: Courtesey of David Orlinsky.
Orlinsky has been one of the leading psychotherapy researchers for over 40 years.
September 2nd he will give an honorary degree acceptance speech in Auditorium 4, Harald Schjelderups hus (PSI), at 10:15.
Viewing therapy in context - the generic model
Together with his lifelong friend and research partner Kenneth Howard at the Northwestern University they formulated the “the generic model of psychotherapy” (OrIinsky & Howard, 1986a, 1987).
The model distinguishes therapy process as a system of action that affects and is affected by surrounding systems like patients' and therapists' personalities and their social and cultural environments.
Six facets of process are differentiated on:
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the organizational aspect of therapy (therapeutic contract)
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the technical aspects of therapy (therapeutic operations)
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the interpersonal aspects of therapy (therapeutic bond)
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the intrapersonal aspects of therapy (participants' self-relatedness)
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clinical aspects of therapy (in-session impacts)
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sequential aspects of process (temporal patterns)
The model provides a contextualized view of psychotherapy by delineating the relation of therapeutic process, both to antecedent conditions in the psychological, cultural and social system environments (inputs) and to consequent conditions in those environments (outputs), which include the psychological consequences of therapeutic process for patients (clinical outcome).
Recently, Orlinsky has worked to extend the generic model in ways that clarify and differentiate the contextual domains in which outcome is assessed. This illuminates the power of the therapeutic relationship to change the patient's life and personality and elucidates the spiritual aspect of psychotherapeutic work.
A founding father
Orlinsky was one of the founding fathers of Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), an association that comprises many of the leading psychotherapy researchers within psychology and medicine. His influence on students, practitioners and researchers are due to his capacity to integrate knowledge from the social, humanistic and natural sciences.
Gathering experiences from therapists' worldwide
He initiated the worldwide program The International Study of the Development of Psychotherapists, managed by the Society for Psychotherapy Research-Collaborative Research Network (SPR-CRN). This network has gathered data from almost 11 000 psychotherapists from more than 30 countries.
The program has been nominated one of the most significant research programs within the field of psychotherapy (Castonguay, L. et al. (Eds.) 2011, The History of Psychotherapy Research, 2nd. ed. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association).
Collaboration with the Department of Psychology
He has played an important role in the Department of Psychology’s research on process-outcome in psychotherapy, both through active cooperation and co-publishing, and the development of the NFR-financed study of experienced therapists. The latter was decisive for the formation of a broader collaboration between clinical therapist’s at the Department of Psychology.