Review
“As the commercial says, ‘I like it.’ It spells things out in a clear, understandable way-quite without jargon. It should be helpful to beginners and would make an excellent text from which to teach.” –Richard P. Fox, M.D.
“This book contains much of the common sense and the uncommon sense of the therapeutics encounter. Through his lucid, organized, and compassionate approach, Kotin effectively guides the beginning therapist around the shoals that we are all most likely to founder on. Moreover, the book is an invaluable source for anyone teaching dynamic psychotherapy. By not oversimplifying, or trying to force resolutions where none may exist, Kotin provides a rationale for clinical work that brings a rare wisdom to the field.” –Morton Shane, M.D.
“Almost four decades have passed since my friend Dr. Robert Wallerstein and I published The Teaching and Learning of Psychotherapy. Joel Kotin’s work goes beyond our beginning and helps students to get started. He then goes far beyond his teachers. This important work should reach every beginning therapist.” –Rudolf Ekstein, Ph.D.
“A work of great warmth and wisdom that welcomes the reader new to psychotherapy. Dr. Kotin offers a practical approach that respects the individuality of each therapist as well as the nuances in such a complex field. This is the book and the teacher we all wish we had encountered as we were getting started.” –R. James Perkins, M.D.
From the Back Cover
Getting Started provides answers to questions that confront all beginning therapists, such as How do I start? What do I say? What if the client challenges me? What if the client is silent? How do I deal with fees? What about confidentiality? How should I end the sessions? It also answers those fundamental general concerns, like How does psychotherapy work? How can I be helpful to my patients? Specifically, Getting Started includes an in-depth discussion of interviewing – the heart of the therapeutic process. History taking is made easy through the use of an uncomplicated, systematic technique. A clear chapter comparing friendship, supportive psychotherapy, and insight psychotherapy helps the reader to understand important differences in goals and techniques among these relationships. There are chapters on the first hour, the initial, middle, and ending phases of therapy, as well as special circumstances such as suicide, homicide, and psychopharmacology. There is a lucid introduction to dream interpretation and thorough discussions of transference and resistance. For the beginning practitioner as well as the more advanced therapist seeking a source for clarification and fine tuning, this book is an invaluable guide.
About the Author
Joel Kotin, M.D., is a clinical professor of psychiatry and human behavior at the College of Medicine, University of California at Irvine. He is also training and supervising analyst at the Los Angeles Psychoanalytic Society and Institute as well as at the Newport Psychoanalytic Institute. As a consultant child psychiatrist to the Children’s and Youth Services of the Orange County Department of Mental Health, and director of Psychiatry at the Laguna Beach Community Clinic, Dr. Kotin has provided training to therapists from many disciplines, including psychology, social work, and psychiatric nursing. In the past, Dr. Kotin was a clinical associate at the National Institute of Mental Health, a fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, and a member of the Executive Council of the American Psychoanalytic Association. He has published numerous professional articles on psychopharmacology and community psychiatry as well as on psychotherapy.
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