The Art and Science of Assessment in Psychotherapy presents the practice and theory of assessment across a broad spectrum of psychotherapy. Individual chapters introduce assessment for eight forms of therapy ranging from psychoanalytic psychotherapy to cognitive behaviour therapy. Other chapters discuss the importance of formulation, the implications of research for the conduct of assessment, and the usefulness of auxiliary questionnaires.

Contrasts in styles of assessment between different assessors, different therapies and different contexts are illustrated. Principles underlying the art and science of assessment are stressed, referring to therapeutic technique, criteria for selection, ethics, psychopathology and decision theory.

1. The contributors are distinguished clinicians, trainers and researchers in their fields. Many of them share here how they approach and think during an assessment in ways that are revealing and instructive. Others present hitherto unpublished research so that the reader may join them at the cutting edge of investigation in this field. Throughout, the contributors draw on and summarise a wide literature, making the book an invaluable source for further exploration.