A Guide to Treatments That Work [Hardcover]

Peter E. Nathan (Editor), Jack M. Gorman (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 11, 1998 | ISBN-10: 0195102274 | ISBN-13: 978-0195102277

In recent years a series of practice guidelines for the effective treatment of mental disorders have been proposed by groups, such as the Division of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association and the American Psychiatric Association, as well as the U.S. Agency for Health Care Policy and Research and several managed care companies. Although many of these guidelines have provided helpful direction in the clinical decision making process, none yet has gathered together the numerous advances in both clinical psychology and psychiatry into one unified guidebook. A Guide to Treatments That Work assembles a distinguished group of both clinical psychologists and psychiatrists to take stock of current drug treatment and psychotherapeutic interventions to see which treatments actually work, which don't, and what still remains beyond the scope of our current knowledge. These eminent scholars thoroughly review available outcome data and clinical trials and provide detailed specification of methods and procedures to ensure effective treatment for each major DSM-IV disorder. As an interdisciplinary work that integrates information from both clinical psychology and psychiatry, this work will serve as an indispensable desk reference for all practitioners.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book belongs in every college library. It is a systematic review of various treatments currently in use for virtually all of the recognized mental disorders. Written by experts in the field and complete with many useful bibliographies, the volume is of considerable importance t those interested in the field of mental health and treatment....Highly recommended."--Choice

"Nathan and Gorman have set out to consider all DSM-IV categories for which there are known treatments, psychosocial or psychopharmacological, and to provide up-to-the-minute scientific evidence about their efficacy. They have achieved this goal by their selection of contributions from an august group of scientists from diverse mental health disciplines, creation of a classification system that guides the review of research studies throughout the book, and employment of some innovative editing approaches."--Readings

"As the jacket of A Guide to Treatments That Work indicates, this comprehensive volume (594 fine-print, double-column pages and tables) assembles a distinguished group of 61 psychiatrists and clinical psychologists to take stock 'of current drug treatment and psychotherapeutic interventions to see which treatments actually work, which do not, and which still remain beyond the scope of our current knowledge.' To accomplish this daunting and important task, 'All available outcome and clinical trials are reviewed, and detailed specification of methods and procedures to ensure effective treatment for each major DSM-IV disorder is provided.' . . . [T]his book represents an invaluable update of contemporary psychotherapeutic, including psychopharmacologic, treatments of DSM-IV psychiatric disorders. It will be useful for both the academician and the practicing clinician and will be referred to frequently by its appreciative owner."--Psychiatric Services

"Numerous psychologists and psychiatrists, most of whom work in the US, collaborate on 28 articles about psychopharmacological or psychosocial treatments of DSM-IV categories for which there are known treatments. Contributors were asked to present the most rigorous, scientifically based evidence for the efficacy of the treatments. As a result, readers can distinguish between those treatments that have been scientifically validated and those that are felt to be of value but have not been properly examined."--SciTech Book News

"A Guide to Treatments That Work is a mammoth effort . . . This book began as a project of an APA Division 12 task force which made the significant decision to broaden its scope to include efficacious treatments whether psychosocial or medical in type. Psychologist Peter Nathan, chair of the task force, is joined as coeditor by Jack Gorman, a prominent biological psychiatrist, and the chapters are written by highly respected clinical researchers from both camps. Whether psychologists ultimately obtain the right to prescribe medication (and whether one thinks that they should), for ethical practice, clinicians need to be aware of efficacious biological interventions that might help their clients and need to be aware of the expected effects and side effects of drugs their clients are taking. This book is a boon in that regard."--Contemporary Psychology

"This book belongs in every college library. It is a systematic review of various treatments currently in use for virtually all of the recognized mental disorders. Written by experts in the field and complete with many useful bibliographies, the volume is of considerable importance to those interested in the field of mental health and treatment....Highly recommended."--Choice

"There are abundant treatment approaches to the various conditions listed in the fourth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM-IV) of the American Psychiatric Association . . . Some of these approaches are championed with near religious fervor. But do they work? Sometimes, proponents say, the treatment doesn't work because the diagnosis is wrong, but often there is little doubt that it was the treatment that was wrong. . . . In designing this book the editors selected all of the DSM-IV categories for which there are known treatments . . . and selected outstanding scientists to write chapters on the treatment of each DSM-IV category . . . This volume, the editors point out, brings together psychiatrists and psychologists whose main approach may be different. And while there is competition and sometimes disagreement among these disciplines, there is also much collaboration and agreement. . . . All in all, a bonanza of a book!"--Digest of Neurology and Psychiatry

"This book belongs in every college library. It is a systematic review of various treatments currently in use for thoroughly all of the recognized mental disorders. Written by experts in the field and complete with many useful bibliographies, the volume is of considerable importance to those interested in the field of mental health and treatment....Highly recommended."--Choice

About the Author

Peter E. Nathan, Professor of Psychology and Vice-President of Academic Affairs, University of Iowa. Jack M. Gorman, Professor of Psychiatry at College of Physicians and Surgeons, Columbia University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 594 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press (December 11, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195102274
• ISBN-13: 978-0195102277
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.4 x 2.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,148,180 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

40 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Finally, a Bible for Evidenced Based Therapy, October 11, 2000

By 

Robert Gore, Ph.D. (San Francisco, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Guide to Treatments That Work (Hardcover)

Nathan and Gorman have provided mental health practitioners with an essential reference. No practitioner of psychotherapy or psychiatric chemotherapy can afford not to buy this book (purchase price notwithstanding). This compendium reviews treatments for major psychological disorders and offers effect size estimates for the benefits of treatment (i.e., how much better off are people after treatment than if they got no treatment at all). In addition, the authors summarize the quality of the research on which their reviews are based. They not only examine psychologically based treatments, but also medication treatments for some disorders. All practitioners and consumers should read this. As a faculty member in a clinical psychology graduate training program, I recommended this book to my students as optional reading - and almost all of them bought it because they found it invaluable. I hope this authors will choose to update this book every ten years ago (it is very recent, so it needs no updating now). If they do, I have no doubt that Nathan and Gorman will come to be inextricably associated with this monumentally practical work, the way that Gray is associated with Anatomy. Kudos to the authors for giving us this essential reference.

14 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent guide to therapies and their effectiveness, July 10, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: A Guide to Treatments That Work (Hardcover)

The authors have done a great job of summerizing the effectiveness of a wide range of behavioral health therapies from medications to systematic desensitization and more. Clear and easy to follow. Great book!