Customer Reviews

Human Change Processes: The Scientific Foundations of Psychotherapy

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Mahoney has written a comprehensive overview of the cognitive revolution in psychology -- at the very least. He provides clear timelines of philosophical, theoretical, and empirical events that put this complex history in clear context. The writing is "thick" while managing to be accessible to even a beginner (if highly motivated) who is trying to make sense of the complexities of the field of cognitive psychology. He goes on to develop a rationale for the development of what is now known as cognitive constructivism -- of which he is a seminal thinker. His rationale and theory development are logical, well constructed, heavily referenced, and inspired. After laying the historical, theoretical, and empirical groundwork, Mahoney provides examples of how this theory is applied to clinical practice. This work is a gem. It is truly worth the energy and investment necessary to read and absorb it.

I am logging on mainly to supplement the other review here. I agree whole-heartedly, yes, Dr. Mahoney does an awesome job covering cognitive perspectives, but wanted to add that it's only ONE perspective covered- indeed, Mahoney is at his core a humanist, important in the psychotherapy integration movement. I read this when I was studying to be a therapist many years ago, and still refer to it- invaluable. At the time, the cognitive approach was the new kid on the block, and vying with strictly behavioral approaches (as I remember), so I believe Mahoney was "giving equal time" to cognitive approaches, but he puts them all in well-balanced perspective. Few have done as good a job covering human change processes in a comprehensive way, beginning with seating them in their historical contexts, and eventually addressing them from both the perspective of client change and the therapist's process (including his/her belief systems and their impact).

Mahoney does a phenomenal job of laying the groundwork for therapists to conduct eclectic practice, to shift perspectives/ approaches as needed. Many perspectives are explained- constructivist, experiential, psychodynamic, behavioral, contextual, many more. In my experience most training programs favor one approach over others (usually cognitive), and do the budding therapist a disservice, because any single approach is limited/ narrow in scope and application (if you don't know that you REALLY need to read this book). This book remedies that. Mahoney is equally comfy inside and outside the box, and his writing is lively and interesting from start to finish!