Learning how to rate video-recorded therapy sessions: a practical guide for trainees and advanced clinicians

Watching and rating psychotherapy sessions is an important yet often overlooked component of psychotherapy training. This article provides a simple and straightforward guide for using one Website (www.ATOStrainer.com) that provides an automated training protocol for rating of psychotherapy sessions. By the end of the article, readers will be able to have the knowledge to go to the Website and begin using this training method as soon as they have a recorded session to view. This article presents, (a) an overview of the Achievement of Therapeutic Objectives Scale (ATOS; McCullough et al., 2003a), a research tool used to rate psychotherapy sessions; (b) a description of APA training tapes, available for purchase from APA Books, that have been rated and scored by ATOS trained clinicians and posted on the Website; (c) step-by-step procedures on how ratings can be done; (d) an introduction to www.ATOStrainer.com where ratings can be entered and compared with expert ratings; and (e) first-hand personal experiences of the authors using this training method and the benefits it affords both trainees and experienced therapists. This psychotherapy training Website has the potential to be a key resource tool for graduate students, researchers, and clinicians. Our long-range goal is to promote the growth of our understanding of psychotherapy and to improve the quality of psychotherapy provided for patients.