Welcome to this on-line study group/seminar on integrating control-mastery theory and research with other theoretical perspectives. I’d like to provide a little background to this on-line project. Several months ago I began to organize a group of clinicians and researchers to critically examine some of the strengths and limitations of control-mastery theory, developed by Joseph Weiss in collaboration with Harold Sampson. The group is comprised of experienced psychoanalysts, psychologists, psychotherapists, and psychotherapy researchers who meet every Friday for an hour to discuss the theory and research (one week devoted primarily to theory and the subsequent week primarily to research). This “Friday Group” is organized around particular topics and associated readings. The seminar format clearly limited the size of the group and our location in San Francisco limited participation to local residents. I felt that our dialogue would be substantially stimulated and enriched by involving a wider group of colleagues and therefore launched this on-line forum.

I would like this forum to follow the Friday Group format. The discussion will be organized around specific topics and related readings. To maximize the likelihood of productive interchange, participants should restrict their comments to the topic under discussion. Suggestions for new topics and readings are always welcome and should be sent directly to me.

For those who would like to read more about control mastery theory, I recommend Weiss (1993) or Silberschatz (2005), which provides the most current presentation of the theory, clinical application, and research.

I look forward to a lively, productive discussion.

References

Silberschatz, G. (Ed.) (2005). Transformative relationships: The control-mastery theory of psychotherapy. New York: Routledge
Weiss, J. (1993). How psychotherapy works. New York: Guilford.