Becoming a therapist: what do I say, and why?

First contact

The first moments

Initiating an alliance and assessing safety

Enhancing the therapeutic alliance and eliciting history

Collecting a psychosocial history and screening for common psychological disorders

Formulating a treatment plan

The frame

Setting the fee and billing

Telephone calls: from dependencies to emergencies

No-shows, late arrivals, and late departures

Confidentiality and its limits

Substance abuse

Integrating psychopharmacology with psychotherapy

Management of impasses

Empathic lapses

Transference and countertransference

Termination.