What competencies should therapists acquire and how should they acquire them?

Arguably, the primary goal of training in psychotherapy is to help trainees develop and/or improve competencies. Competencies can be viewed as knowledge, skills, and attitudes that are components of acceptable clinical performance or, in the absence of clear empirical definition, of what is assumed to be acceptable performance. This chapter presents a landscape of current training practices with regard to competencies that are being taught and methods that are used to do so. Together, it represents the views and praxes associated with different approaches (behavioral change and insight-oriented), various parts of the world (Europe, Latin America, and North America), and a wide range of training experiences (with PhD and PsyD students as well as with experienced therapists in both private practice and clinical trials). The goal was to describe the current state in terms of what competencies are required for practicing clinicians and what methods are used to train students.