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International Handbook of Cognitive and Behavioural Treatments for Psychological Disorders

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This volume is an excellent consultation source for difficult cases of anxiety, sexual dysfunctions, dissociation, somatoform, affective, impulse control and psiquiatric/organic disorders. Forty four authors represent many Occidental countries, thus providing useful comparisons among ways of thinking about psychological problems and treatments chosen. Even tough all articles are originally written for this publication, one criticism could be that too many authors are from the USA, implying perhaps a superior knowledge in the field of cognitive-behavioral therapy. I interpret this differently: because this therapeutic method developed and grew in the US, a great amount of studies were first started and published here. The American authors selected by the editor are proven authorities in the field and thus, good representatives of the cognitive-behavioral method. The authors who use the DSM cleaverly do so without subscribing to its purely medical dogma and, on the contrary, stressing psychotherapy. The articles that mention de psychiatric DSM Holy Bible accept the fact that medication often clears the mind to make it possible for the individual to correct the problem with the aid of psychotherapy. In other words, the message comes across clearly that psychothropic medication is not the cure in most cases but facilitates psychotherapy. By emphasizing the "cognitive-behavioral" approach,the book integrates the totality of mental activity, including imagery. Chapters on social phobia, sexual dysfunctions, general anxiety, to mention just a few, make important use of visualization or what I have called "new self- hypnosis." This book presents the cognitive-hebavioral method seriously for those who are not familiar with it. For those who are, it provides scientific evidence and practical technics to tackle some of the most difficult problems faced by the psychotherapist. It is a practical book, a real handbook, from which even seasoned practitioners like myself can learn much, as I did.