Applying Current Literature to Clinical Practice

Literature in psychotherapy differs from other areas of clinical practice. Generally, there are no clinical trials in psychotherapy because it is often neither appropriate nor ethical to have controls in psychotherapy research. This sometimes makes it more difficult to translate research findings into practice. In your role, however, you must be able to synthesize current literature and apply it to your own clients. For this Assignment, you begin practicing this skill by examining current literature on psychodynamic therapy and considering how it might translate into your own clinical practice.

Learning Objectives

Students will:

• Evaluate the application of current literature to clinical practice

To prepare:

• Review this week’s Learning Resources and reflect on the insights they provide.


• Select one of the psychodynamic therapy articles from the Learning Resources to evaluate for this Assignment. 

The Assignment

In a 5- to 10-slide PowerPoint presentation, address the following:

• Provide an overview of the article you selected.
  
  
  
  • What population is under consideration?
  
  
  • What was the specific intervention that was used? Is this a new intervention or one that was already used?
  
  
  • What were the author’s claims?
  
  
  
  


• Explain the findings/outcomes of the study in the article. Include whether this will translate into practice with your own clients. If so, how? If not, why?


• Explain whether the limitations of the study might impact your ability to use the findings/outcomes presented in the article. Support your position with evidence-based literature.

Select one of the following articles on psychodynamic therapy to evaluate in your Assignment:

Aznar-Martinez, B., Perez-Testor, C., Davins, M., & Aramburu, I. (2016). Couple psychoanalytic psychotherapy as the treatment of choice: Indications, challenges, and benefits. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 33(1), 1–20. doi:10.1037/a0038503

Karbelnig, A. M. (2016). “The analyst is present”: Viewing the psychoanalytic process as performance art. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 33(supplement 1), S153–S172. doi:10.1037/a0037332

LaMothe, R. (2015). A future project of psychoanalytic psychotherapy: Revisiting the debate between classical/commitment and analytic therapies. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 32(2), 334–351. doi:10.1037/a0035982 

Migone, P. (2013). Psychoanalysis on the Internet: A discussion of its theoretical implications for both online and offline therapeutic technique. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30(2), 281–299. doi:10.1037/a0031507 

Tummala-Narra, P. (2013). Psychoanalytic applications in a diverse society. Psychoanalytic Psychology, 30(3), 471–487. doi:10.1037/a0031375