What happens in psychotherapy and when is it helpful? With twelve case reports covering the most frequent disorders requiring psychotherapy, the prominent psychiatrist, psychotherapist, and psychoanalyst Rainer Matthias Holm-Hadulla shows how success can be achieved with the flexible integration of different psychotherapeutic methods. The focus is on individuals in their social context, with their various biographies, life situations, and creative potentialities. The narratives revolve around an 'ABCDE' model and highlight the following aspects of modern psychotherapy: therapeutic alliance, behaviour change, cognitive reflection, psychodynamic analysis, and existential understanding.