Customer Reviews

Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: An Illustrated Guide

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

While researching literature for an article in the Library of the Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic (Pittsburgh, PA), I have noticed the book in question on the library's display shelf for new releases. I opened the book at random and stumbled upon a handful of effectively presented tables and charts (a list of healthy and dysfunctional schemas, tips for using behavioral activation, etc.). I checked the book out.

The book serves equally well as a primer for a CBT trainee or as a refresher course for a CBT practitioner. In reading the book, I have reminisced about my first doctoral practicum in CBT tx of anxiety and depression (a few years back, in the 20th century!) and wished my learning of cognitive-behavior therapy had been accompanied by readings from "Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy" by Wright, Busco and Thase.

Having read about a dozen books on CBT, I place this book in the top three in terms of immediate clinical utility. The book wastes no time to organize various pieces of CBT paradigm. Case in point is page 7: the book begins with placing automatic thoughts and schemas in the context of levels of cognitive processing. The book continues with similarly effective organization, laconic case vignettes, and exercises. The book comes with a DVD which I have not had a chance to review but, I am confident (based on my prior exposure to one of the author's computer-assisted multimedia program) is of good quality as well.

To think, "It's just another book on CBT" would be a cognitive error.

Pavel Somov, Ph.D.
Licensed Psychologist
Pittsburgh, PA
Co-Author of "The Recovery Equation: Motivational Enhancement/Choice Awareness/Use Prevention, an Innovative Clinical Curriculum for Substance Use Treatment"
psclinical@hotmail.com

It has often been said that psychotherapy is both art and science. Research over the last 40 years has demonstrated the scientific basis for Cognitive Therapy. However, it is one thing to read about an approach to therapy and another to learn how to do it. Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: An Illustrated Guide provides the reader and clinician with the best of both worlds. Not only will the reader find in the book the basic concepts and techniques of CT, the accompanying DVD will demonstrate how to administer these interventions. This book is a must for anyone who is serious about using Cognitive Therapy in their clinical setting. It is also a useful resource for academics that are looking for a resource to illustrate this approach to therapy.

The book is easy to read and gives actual examples that can be used in a therpeutic setting. The DVD has real life situations and examples that are easily tranferrable to counseling sessions. The DVD looks like an office and people in a previous decade, but skills are still up to date.

I've found this book particularly interesting for those of you that should to teach CBT techniques to people who are in their first steps of education (residents, students, nurses, etc.)It is clear, well writen and good learning. Basic principles of the rationale of CBT and treatment techniques are well explained and DVD provides you with helpful examples. Above all, I would like to remark that the book gives you really interesting advice about how to do case-formulation. It is such a good learning. Finally, the book provides you with some checklists and scales that will help you to teach, supervise or practise CBT in a reliably way.

I purchased this book as well as two others (Handbook of Cognitive Behavior Therapies, Cognitive Therapy: Basics and Beyond)for a comparative paper for grad school. Out of all three, this one had the most information, and I cited it multiple times throughout my paper.
Highly recommended for students who need to know the basics of how CBT works, as far as history, important figures, actual therapeutic techniques, etc.

This book provides an excellent primer or a great refresher in the concepts, theory, and practice of Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT). It presents CBT and many of its crucial elements in a straight-forward, easy to read fashion, and includes short video vignettes (DVD included) and practice exercizes for the reader throughout many of the book's chapters. This is a great value for those looking to learn CBT for the first time as well as those looking to get back to basics and assess/enhance their own CBT skills. Book includes link to downloadable CBT forms (and cbt skills self-assessment materials).

I am not a mental-health professional but am, instead, someone who has benefited from the concepts and techniques that this book teaches. I read "Getting Your Life Back," which two of the authors of this book (Wright and Basco) published in 2001, and I found it very helpful. But, surprisingly perhaps, I found "Learning Cognitive Behavior Therapy, an Illustrated Guide" even more helpful. The book is written for practicing therapists and those in training to become therapists, but it is not a dry medical textbook. The prose is well-written, clear, and direct. It avoids jargon. It explains each concept and each technique clearly and in detail. The authors point out that "One of the appealing features of cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is the collaborative, straightforward, and action-oriented style of therapeutic relationship that it employs." Every chapter of the book demonstrates this style.

"Learning Cognitive Behavior Therapy" is not a self-help book, but I found that discovering how professionals learn to use CBT has helped me recognize my own difficulties better and understand more clearly how to deal with them. The authors of the book would insist, correctly, that no book can replace the help of a trained professional. But if you feel that you need help, or you know someone who needs help, and if you really want to understand the concepts and techniques of CBT, the reasons, goals, and procedures that cognitive-behavior therapists use, then I recommend this book.

This book is great. I'm about 2/3 through grad school for LMFT. This book is very practical, and the movie helps to make the concepts clear. Very good book for going beyond theory to really learning CBT in practice.

I have a bachelors in psychology and am preparing for my masters. With that in mind, I am really enjoying Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (LCBT). After watching 2 other highly rated dvd's on CBT, I can say that this one is the most lucid, to-the-point and pragmatic of all the dvd's I've watched. Further, the audio is good! I know, I shouldn't have to say that, but unfortunately, some of the other dvd's I've watched had such horrible audio, you couldn't even make out the majority of what they were saying.

Moreover, I just finished reading chapter 1. Again, smart, authoritative (sited references)and succinct! Why does it make me think: "this is how books are SUPPOSED to be!?" with such a sense of surprise? This really is an exceptional book.

The funniest part is, I read another review that said: "this is not a self-help book". The irony to me, is that this book is more helpful for me as an individual with my life issues (aside from education), than any of the self-help books I've read; (granted, I'm not too fond of self-help books anyway). Of course, a book can never replace a good trained professional Psychologist; but if you want to become a great-trained-professional-Psychologist, this book is for you! You won't regret it.

(To learn additional techniques beyond the fundamentals in this, pick up Cognitive Therapy Techniques by Leahy.)

Another Michael E Thase book that is a rehash of CBT that put me to sleep. Michael Thase missed his calling he should spec with sleep disorders. If you are not required to use this book in class don't buy it.