Tony has a first degree in Biochemistry and specialised in the biochemistry of mood and behaviour. He has experience of psychodynamic, cognitive behavioural and humanistic therapies. Tony is a Counselling Psychotherapist and offers professional Supervision to other therapists. Tony is a BACP Accredited Counsellor/Psychotherapist, a UKRC Registered Independent Counsellor and an International Affiliate of the American Psychological Association. His Masters dissertation was on 'clinical effectiveness of the person-centred psychotherapies'. He has recently completed a doctoral thesis on 'clinical effectiveness of the person-centred psychotherapies: the impact of the therapeutic relationship'. Tony's research interests include severe anxiety, severe depression and severe client dysfunction (including so-called 'personality disorders'), especially following childhood trauma.

 

In addition to private practice, Tony has worked in primary care and university counselling. He lectures in counselling at University Campus Suffolk and West Suffolk College and is a visiting lecturer at the University of East Anglia, Norwich (UEA). Recent lectures include 'An introduction to Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)', 'Making effective use of clinical supervision', 'Effective ways of working with clients with personality disorders', 'Researching counselling practice' and 'Researching sensitive issues'.  

 

Tony is married to a GP and they have three children.  

 

Research suggests that the therapeutic relationship is an important contributor to success in counselling and psychotherapy. Professor Mike Lambert analysed over one hundred process-outcome studies in an effort to identify the factors that predict 100% of client outcome. He concluded that the contribution these factors make are as follows¹:

 

a) extratherapeutic change 40% (events that happen outside therapy)

b) common factors 35% (factors common to all therapies, e.g. therapeutic relationship)

c) therapist effects 20% (the effect of the individual therapist)

d) techniques 5% (the techniques of the different therapies)

 

It is therefore important to find a therapist you get on well with, who uses effective techniques, is personally effective and with whom you can form an effective therapeutic relationship. Addressing external issues within therapy (e.g. home and work relationships) can leverage the impact of therapy and Tony has developed an approach to this that is proving successful. The following graph shows average client perceptions of Tony Weston, to the extent that clients consider him to provide them with congruent empathy and unconditional positive regard (dimensions associated with success in therapy):

 

 

Empathy = counsellor accurately perceiving the world of the client and communicating this accurately back to the client.

 

Unconditional postive regard = clients perceiving they are accepted, respected, valued or prized by the counsellor.

 

Congruence = counsellor perceived by the client as being integrated, genuine or authentic.

 

1. Lambert, M J (2006) 'Effective methods for reducing treatment and enhancing patient outcome: the importance of tracking treatment response' Maine Consortium Workshop 2006