ABSTRACT
Psychotherapists are often in the role of helping clients enhance their performance, either in helping reduce deficit or build new competencies. This chapter describes groundbreaking work that isolates the key factors in successful performance. Fortunately, the Committee on Techniques for the Enhancement of Human Performance, organized by the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences and comprising a group of America's foremost experts on learning, tracked the vast research literature on enhancing performance for more than a decade. As psychiatrist Henry Grunebaum has suggested, therapy is ultimately a form of learning. The report of this committee suggests the basic principles of learning transcend the specific focus of what is to be learned. Experts across activities typically acquire skills in similar ways and show many commonalities in how they function. Researchers from the field of performance psychology have studied the advantages of preparation, practice, and a good mental attitude to help one achieve success in any endeavor.
