Good Goodbyes: Knowing How to End in Psychotherapy and Psychoanalysis

Good Goodbyes highlights the crucial importance of how the end of therapy is structured and experienced. Bad endings can destroy good therapies. Good endings can consolidate the work accomplished, transform relationships, and foster growth in both patient and therapist. Within the framework of the therapeutic relationship and a clearly articulated set of goals for therapy, the authors describe how to recognize and respond to termination themes from the very beginning of treatment. Each phase of treatment brings its own challenges, as well as the risk of premature ending by patient or therapist. Each chapter in this book addresses specific danger signals to look out for and helpful techniques to support treatment. With vivid clinical examples from all diagnostic groups and all stages of development, the Novicks demonstrate how to engage each patient in building the "emotional muscle" needed to master life's challenges, transform early losses, and integrate new experiences of joy and sadness into the personality.