In Our Clients' Shoes

Stephen E. Finn

• Contents: Fischer, Foreword. Preface. Part I: The History and Development of Therapeutic Assessment. Introduction: What Is Therapeutic Assessment? Appreciating the Power and Potential of Psychological Assessment. Therapeutic Assessment: Would Harry Approve? How Therapeutic Assessment Became Humanistic, with Mary E. Tonsager. Part II: Specific Techniques of Therapeutic Assessment. Testing One’s Own Clients Mid-Therapy With the Rorschach. Giving Clients Feedback About “Defensive” Test Protocols. Assessment Feedback Integrating MMPI-2 and Rorschach Findings. Assessment Intervention Sessions: Using “Softer” Tests to Demonstrate “Harder” Test Findings to Clients. One-up, One-down, and in Between: A Systemic Model of Assessment Consultation. Therapeutic Assessment of a Man With “ADD”. Collaborative Sequence Analysis of the Rorschach. Using the Consensus Rorschach as an Assessment Intervention With Couples. “But I Was Only Trying to Help!”: Failure of a Therapeutic Assessment. Collaborative Child Assessment as a Family Systems Intervention. Teaching Therapeutic Assessment in a Required Graduate Course. Part III: Theoretical Developments. Please Tell Me That I’m Not Who I Fear I Am: Control-Mastery Theory and Therapeutic Assessment. Challenges and Lessons of Intersubjectivity Theory for Psychological Assessment. How Psychological Assessment Taught Me Compassion and Firmness. Conclusion: Practicing Therapeutic Assessment.

"Dr. Finn’s revelations have breathed fresh air into assessment practice. His illustrative cases and self examples are inspiring and provide the impetus for assessment professionals to make changes in the way they conceive of and practice assessment. This book is a must-read for psychologists who want to make a difference in the lives of children, adolescents, adults, couples, and families with their psychological assessments!" Deborah Tharinger, University of Texas, Austin, USA"This book is a delightful blend of useful theory, clinical wisdom, helpful guidelines, and illustrative cases. Every chapter is filled with ideas on how to more effectively approach clients. I particularly enjoyed the warm, engaging, personal style of Dr. Finn who candidly presents both his successful cases as well as those cases that had not worked out. In both cases he extracts useful lessons for the practicing clinician. This book provides a perfect bridge for professional psychologists who know the technical aspects of assessment but who now want to use this knowledge to facilitate client change. I will certainly be assigning it for future courses I teach in assessment." - Gary Groth-Marnat, Pacifica Graduate Institute, USA