| dc.description.abstract | Foreword
Psychotherapy requires a great deal of intellectual knowledge. To become a
successful therapist requires that one reads many books and articles, and listens
to hundreds of hours of lectures and workshops. However, despite all this verbal
intellectual activity, when you close the door and are alone with the client, you
have to act. You have to decide quickly what to say, what to ask, or to remain
inactive. Was that a choice, or did I act passively because I did not know what
to do? After years of training psychotherapists, I have come to view the practice
of psychotherapy more like a motor sport or skill than like an intellectual
activity. However, psychotherapy is a motor skill that rests on a great deal of
knowledge. How do clinicians learn to go from theory to practice? The title
of this book by Ellis and Dryden reflects the action aspects of psychotherapy. | vi |
