David E. Orlinsky
David Orlinsky is a clinical psychologist and social scientist internationally recognized as an expert in the field of psychotherapy and psychotherapy research. His interests focus broadly on the nature and functions of close interpersonal relationships in the context of personality development, and on the social and cultural domain of ‘personal life’ in modern and postmodern societies where these relationships are most significant. Personal relationships that occur ‘naturally’ and ‘normally’ over the typical life course in modern societies include love relationships between children and parents, intimate friends, romantic companions, and marital partners. Orlinsky views psychotherapy also as essentially a ‘personal relationship’ but one that is offered professionally as a corrective or remedial experience for persons in modern societies whose subjective distress or behavioral problems are rooted in impaired, incomplete, or deviant development in ‘natural’ personal relationships.
Orlinsky’s research and writings have focused comparatively both on the process and outcome of psychotherapies, and on the characteristics and functioning of professional psychotherapists trained as experts in personal life, personality and life-course development. He is the co-author and co-editor of three books (Orlinsky & Howard, 1975; Orlinsky & Rønnestad, 2005; Geller, Norcross, & Orlinsky, 2005); the lead author of a principal chapter in successive editions of Bergin and Garfield’s prestigious Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change (Orlinsky & Howard, 1978, 1986; Orlinsky, Grawe & Parks, 1994; Orlinsky, Rønnestad & Willutzki, 2004); and the author of many book chapters and journal articles on psychotherapy (e.g., Orlinsky, 2005, 2007), on love relationships (e.g., Orlinsky, 1972), and higher education (e.g., Orlinsky, 1992). For the past 20 years he has served as principal coordinator of a large collaborative international study of psychotherapists, which continues to be his main current research focus.
Professionally, Orlinsky co-founded the international Society for Psychotherapy Research in 1968, serving it and the North American Society for Psychotherapy Research as president and in other capacities, and was also a practicing psychotherapist for many years. He has received awards for distinguished career contributions from the American Psychological Association (Division of Psychotherapy), the Illinois Psychological Association, and the Society for Psychotherapy Research. Academically, Orlinsky has won the University’s Quantrell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and currently offers graduate and undergraduate courses on the ‘Modern Psychotherapies’, on the ‘Social and Cultural Foundations of Mental Health’, and on ‘Romantic Love: Psychological and Cultural Perspectives’.
Contact Information
d-orlinsky@uchicago.edu
Courses
‘Modern Psychotherapies’ and ‘Romantic Love: Cultural & Psychological Perspectives’
Relevant Publications
Geller, J. D., Norcross, J. C., & Orlinsky, D. E. (Eds.) (2005). The Psychotherapist’s Own Psychotherapy: Patient and Clinician Perspectives, New York: Oxford University Press.
Orlinsky, D. E., (1972). Love relationships in the life cycle: A developmental interpersonal perspective. In H. Otto (Ed.) Love today: A new exploration. New York: Association Press.
Orlinsky, D. E., (1992). Not very simple, but overflowing: A historical perspective on general education at the University of Chicago. In J. MacAloon, Ed., General education in the social sciences: Centennial reflections on the College of the University of Chicago. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Orlinsky, D. E. (2005). Die Spiritualität von Psychotherapeuten. (The spirituality of psychotherapists.) In J. Galuska & A. Pietzko, Eds., Psychotherapie und Bewusstsein: Spirituelle und transpersonale Dimenisionen der Psychotherapie. (Psychotheraqpy and consciousness: Spiritual and transpersonal dimensions of psychotherapy). Bielefeld, Germany: Kamphausen Verlag, p. 39-61.
Orlinsky, D. E. (2007). The therapeutic relationship, social support, and the psychotherapist’s healing energy: A Neo-Durkheimian perspective. In Bernd Röhrle & Anton-Rupert Laireiter, Hrsg.), Soziale Unterstützung und Psychotherapie. Tübingen: dgvt-Verlag.
Orlinsky, D. E., Grawe, K., & Parks, B. K. (1994). Process and outcome in psychotherapy--noch einmal. In A. Bergin S. & Garfield, Eds., Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change, 4th ed. New York: Wiley.
Orlinsky, D. E., & Howard, K. I. (1975). Varieties of psychotherapeutic experience: Multivariate analyses of patients’ and therapists’ reports. New York: Teachers College Press.
Orlinsky, D. E., & Howard, K. I. (1978). The relation of process to outcome in psychotherapy. In S. Garfield and A. Bergin, Eds., Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change, 2nd ed. New York: Wiley.
Orlinsky, D. E., & Howard, K. I. (1986). Process and outcome in psychotherapy. In S. Garfield and A. Bergin, Eds., Handbook of psychotherapy and behavior change, 3rd ed. New York: Wiley.
Orlinsky, D. E., & Ronnestad, M. H. (2005). How Psychotherapists Develop: A Study of Therapeutic Work and Professional Growth. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Orlinsky, D. E., Rønnestad, M. H., & Willutzki, U. (2004). Fifty years of psychotherapy process-outcome research: Continuity and change. In M. Lambert, Ed., Bergin and Garfield’s Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behavior Change, 5th edn. (pp. ). New York: Wiley.
