Customer Reviews

Cognitive Therapy of Substance Abuse

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is the ultimate treatise on cognitive therapy in a substance abuse setting. Straight from the father of cognitive therapy, "Cognitive Therapy of Substance Abuse" is a clear, concise guide to providing effective therapy in both outpatient and inpatient settings. It is an indispensible part of any substance abuse counselor's library.

This book is a foundational work. Be advised that it is not casual reading but is more like a textbook. This work has spawned many take offs and add ons, but for my money going right to the source is best. There is certainly material in here that can be put to immediate use.

This book is a must read for therapists and clients alike. It presents a thorough explanation of the mechanics and the employment of CBT as it relates to substance abuse. The authors extract dialogue from real counseling sessions to give the reader concrete examples of how CBT can be used to strengthen the problem-solving and coping skills that will guide the client through the process of recovery.

Boys and girls, there's a reason why this 15-year-old book continues to command attention in the world of substance (and process behavior) abuse treatment, and here it is: There are just way too many people out there in Intoxicadia who -can- not and -will- sit still for the "spiritual" approach of Alcoholics Anonymous or the "tough love" therapeutic communities that continue to dominate the ways and means of most treatment facilities.

Now, before those of you for whom AA or tough love worked start squirming, lemme say this: I've been in the "industry" for 21 years, sober for 24, and attending AA and NA for 31. I have a -lot- of respect for AA, NA, CA and the therapeutic community method. The addict or alkie who's made it over the hurdles of denial and contemplation into the fertile soil of acceptance and committment will do fine and dandy there.

But denial is -not- the problem for many on the far side of the river. The problem is "God."

AA's 12 Step recovery model may not be "Christian" or even truly "religious," but it surely sounds that way to a lot of people. And many of those folks have long, sordid histories around people who called themselves "religious" or "Christians" that may take years to sort out. If one's liver function is down to 25%, however, we don't have time for all that.

Nor do the the bean counters in the "production imperative" world of the HMO have time for it, either. Most HMOs will go for a 21- or (maybe) a 28-day program, and That... Is... It. Thus (to me, anyway), it's no wonder, that the single most widespread application for Ellis's "thought-challenging" and Beck's CBT is substance abuse. Having whipped depression, anxiety and some of the more odious upshots of the personality disorders in the '80s and early '90s, "what's next?" many asked.

Becks's CBT appeals to the intellect because it's a purely intellectual exercise. This is "critical thinking" and "debunking logical fallacies" reduced to specific application. The boozy-but-brilliant college debater will find it right up his alley. The nihilistic philosopher will be seduced right into the arguements, but he can't win against the irrefutable logic here.

And the anthropomorphic-god-of-our-fathers-rejecting atheist will find A Way Out here for a lot less dough (and time) than he'll plunk down (or waste) with things like Rational Recovery (which was, after all, nothing but an antisocial rip-off of this).

(Lord, he may even find a G.O.D. of "Good Orderly Direction" through accurate evaluation, interpretation and appraisal of current phenomena via re-structured core beliefs, ideas, values and attutudes. Watch out!)

Beck and his crew have a system here. It may even be more system than it needs to be (considering simpler cognitive schemas that have evolved more recently), but it's a very -good- system with more empirical research to support it's efficacy than anything else in history.

For those who need more intellectual stimulation (and less interpersonal frustration), and less Judeo-Christian theism, than they'll find in the typical AA or NA meeting, this may well be the E Ticket.