Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy [Hardcover]

Leslie S. Greenberg. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 8, 1998 | ISBN-10: 1572303743 | ISBN-13: 978-1572303744 | Edition: 1

Integrating the work of leading client-centered, gestalt, interpersonal, focusing, and process-oriented therapists, Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy covers both conceptual foundations and current treatment applications. Contributors present well-articulated approaches to treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, and other problems, emphasizing the need to work with the client's own moment-by-moment experience of disturbing states and processes. The volume delineates a variety of experiential methods--from working with clients to symbolize bodily felt sense, evoke memories, and express intense feelings, to helping them reflect on their experience, maintain gains from session to session, and create new meanings for themselves. The role of the therapist's relational stance in promoting particular emotional processes is also examined, and newly developed models of experiential diagnosis and case formulation are described. This text will be of interest to practitioners and students of psychotherapy in a range of orientations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A major shift has occurred in experiential therapy. This seminal text extends the work of Rogers and Perls and provides systematic interventions that target specific client problems. It provides the practicing therapist with a map, a rich theoretical base that emphasizes the client's potential for growth. It also offers specific guidelines for effective practice and clinical examples of tried and empirically tested interventions. This is a classic that will guide therapists for years to come." --Susan M. Johnson, EdD, Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Canada

"I am impressed by the scope and depth of this orientation, its international development, its theory, research base, and wide variety of applications in practice. Because it is centered on the experiential dimension which cuts across other orientations, this book will bring something helpful to every practitioner." --Eugene T. Gendlin, PhD, University of Chicago, author of Focusing-Oriented Psychotherapy

"This is a splendid transcultural collection that reflects fine scholarship and practical wisdom. It places experiential approaches not only in historical context, but also in their contemporary role as a leading component of 21st century psychotherapy. I recommend it highly." --Michael J. Mahoney, PhD, University of North Texas, Executive Director, Society for Constructivism in the Human Sciences

From the Back Cover

A major shift has occurred in experiential therapy. This seminal text extends the work of Rogers and Perls and provides systematic interventions that target specific client problems. It provides the practicing therapist with a map, a rich theoretical base that emphasizes the client's potential for growth. It also offers specific guidelines for effective practice and clinical examples of tried and empirically tested interventions. This is a classic that will guide therapists for years to come (Susan M. Johnson, EdD, Professor of Psychology & Psychiatry, University of Ottawa, Canada).

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 477 pages
• Publisher: Guilford Press; 1 edition (October 8, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572303743
• ISBN-13: 978-1572303744
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #635,036 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Mecca for the Experiential Paradigm, June 13, 2004

By 

Matthew Dubins (North York, Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy (Hardcover)

I have a couple of warnings for people reading this book.

1) Although it was edited by one team of experts in the field (one of them coming from my school, York University :) ) the chapters themselves are articles that were written by the people who knew best about the subject matter at hand. This is a book that attempts to bring together the theoretical and clinical work that has been done by a wide variety of Clinicians who can be lumped under the 'Experiential' paradigm. As such you must be prepared for a different writing style in almost every chapter that you encounter in this book.

2) If you are not already a professional in the field, then you must be prepared to devote a lot of your time and brain power to absorb this book. It is not particularly written for Undergraduate Students, and definitely not written for the average layperson.

Granted these two facts, if you do in fact invest the time and brain power to read this book then I promise you it will be incredibly fruitful. The experiential paradigm has a lot to offer in the emotive and conceptual realms. If you read through this book, you will get a very lingering taste of the work that is being done by Psychologists in the Experiential Paradigm.