Counselling and Therapy Book Reviews

Caroline Brazier on Listening to the Other

Sarah Luczaj — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 13:36:46 +0000

Brazier reminds us that counselling often goes beyond offering a non-judgemental space in which the client can listen to and experience themselves, to actively encourage a kind of self-preoccupation which can actually make one more isolated and miserable.

Tags: Development & Supervision, listening, mindfulness, Person-Centred, therapy, Training, Development & Supervision

Zerbe on Integrated Treatment of Eating Disorders

Sarah Luczaj — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:38:15 +0000

This book seems to contain all of human life, from the scientific details through the full range of emotions, including the extremes of love and hate. And it emanates a sense that although we all get shaken sometimes, and life is dangerous, every feeling is expressible and every situation is workable.

Tags: eating disorder, therapy

Counselling for Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Sarah Luczaj — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 09:48:39 +0000

This book is important reading, as it competently deals with the treatment of a major health issue which is both prevalent and chronic, with strong co-morbidity. While the tone didn't particularly engage me, I did finish the book with some insights and solid understanding.

Tags: cbt, PTSD, trauma

Mindfulness- & Acceptance-Based Behavioral Therapies

Sarah Luczaj — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:54:51 +0000

The basic conceptualisation of human experience offered by this book is that distress arises from our relationship with our own internal experience. The remedy goes beyond (and could be seen as contrary to) the traditional cognitive therapy approach of disentangling the client from the thoughts, questioning them and replacing them with more realistic and helpful ones.

Tags: acceptance, cbt, mindfulness, Research

Online Counseling: A Handbook For Mental Health Professionals

Sarah Luczaj — Tue, 12 May 2009 10:15:52 +0000

Seemingly aimed both at students and at internet-illiterates, this book provides fairly comprehensive coverage of the history and development of online counseling. As a practical guide or handbook, however, it lacks depth.

Tags: online therapy

The Mindful Way Through Depression

Sarah Luczaj — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:06:21 +0000

Written by four luminaries of the mindfulness movement in psychotherapy and counselling, The Mindful Way through Depression is a self-help book in the best sense of the term, and you don't need to suffer from depression to find it useful.

Tags: cbt, depression, mindfulness, philosophy, Research

Helping Adolescents at Risk: Prevention of Multiple Problem Behaviors

Professor Colin Feltham — Tue, 13 May 2008 10:18:04 +0000

This is a rigorous scholarly text dedicated to a very real social problem, and it does try to identify successful and unsuccessful community and state-wide attempts to prevent or reduce youth problems. It doesn't pretend to be a self-help book or parenting manual, or indeed a profound philosophical or political analysis.

Tags: adolescents, children, parents, Research

Berg and Szabo on Brief Coaching

Professor Colin Feltham — Tue, 06 May 2008 09:20:18 +0000

This book is a good ready-to-go manual for the new or busy coach looking for new ideas or reinforcement of practice enthusiasm. Whether it lives up to its promise of providing lasting solutions is something that only time and longitudinal research studies can tell.

Tags: Coaching, therapy

Science and Pseudoscience in Clinical Psychology

Professor Colin Feltham — Thu, 01 May 2008 10:34:27 +0000

At a time when Complementary and Alternative Therapies have (again) been under fire from some university scientists for falsely claiming scientific status, and in an era of evidence-based psychotherapy, this book is a key text. It should have a place on all postgraduate counselling and psychotherapy courses, but I suspect it will not be so readily accommodated.

Tags: effectiveness, Psychology, Research, therapy

Boss on Trauma and Ambiguous Loss

Sarah Luczaj — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:03:00 +0000

Comprehensive, clear and well referenced, this guide to the theory and practice of dealing with ambiguous loss — loss without closure — provides a realistic hope, not that we will “get over it”, but that it is possible to live with the uncertainty and the unknown.

Tags: bereavement, therapy, trauma