Customer Reviews

Cognitive Case Conceptualization: A Guidebook for Practitioners (Lea Series in Personality and Clinical Psychology)

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This is a well-researched, carefully thought out book that explores the important field of cognitive therapy case conceptualization through the lens of several major diagnoses clinicians will encounter.
The author has put much time and effort into helping clinicians really understand at a deep and broad level the phenomenology of their clients' experiences when they present for therapy. He uses a very helpful case conceptualization diagram--his own--to assist each reader in highlighting the key features of a case and uses this to generate hypotheses as to where to go clinically with such a client.
I especially appreciated some parts of the book that dealt with mindfulness [now a hot area in cognitive therapy, less so when this book came out] and its possible use in CT. Also good were descriptions of and rationales for various techniques to use that emanate from a solid understanding of each client.
The book gives nice examples throughout, so it is not dry as some therapy books can be. It is well-organized, well-researched, and written in an accessible style.
I feel that any clinician reading this will better understand the nature of the disorders mentioned (e.g., depression, panic, ocd, gad, and several others). S/he will also draw useful ideas as to how to intervene most effectively, even with challenging cases and their respective problems.
The author wisely provides dialogue drawn from therapy sessions so that the reader is able to be like a fly on the wall as the ideas in the book are implemented in real therapy sessions by a talented clinician.
I have used this book as a text in a graduate course and the students found it very helpful in deepening their grasp of CT. I believe seasoned professionals would still learn much from the material here and the clear ways that these helpful ideas are presented.
I recommend it very highly.