Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis (Paperback)

by James O. Prochaska (Author), John L. Mikesell (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY covers, in a scholarly and balanced manner, a wide range of theories and methods -- which is what we sorely need. When using this book in one of my graduate courses, the students gave me an A+ for assigning this wide ranging and stimulating book."

"In my many years of clinical teaching and training, SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY is the only text I have known to reach such singular comprehensiveness and usefulness in helping students learn the theoretical foundations of psychotherapy. Norcross and Prochaska go beyond conventional descriptions of theories to present integrative perspectives, therapeutic commonalities, outcome research, and future directions. A superb and practical text!"

"SYSTEMS OF PSYCHOTHERAPY is a special book that has a special place among theory books in psychotherapy. Most such books are duly informative, but the Prochaska and Norcross text is in a league of its own in terms of its ability to both inform and engage the reader in the material. It has everything that I look for in such a book: Depth of analysis, extremely clear and crisp writing, sound organization, and evenhandedness in its comparative review of the various theories. Bravo to Prochaska and Norcross for this wonderful accomplishment."

"The authors are to be commended for assembling such a carefully crafted book. They make a serious effort to integrate theory, research, and clinical practice into each chapter." --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Description
Systematic and balanced, this comprehensive text uses a wealth of clinical case illustrations to help readers understand a wide variety of psychotherapies including psychoanalytic, psychodynamic, existential, person-centered, experiential, interpersonal, exposure, behavioral, cognitive, systemic, multicultural, and integrative. The Sixth Edition thoroughly analyzes 15 leading systems of psychotherapy and briefly surveys another 30, thus providing a broader scope than is available in most textbooks. Prochaska and Norcross explore each system's theory of personality, theory of psychopathology, and resulting therapeutic process and relationship. By doing so, they demonstrate how much psychotherapy systems agree on the processes producing change, while showing how they disagree on the content that needs to be changed. To bring these similarities and differences to life, the authors also present the limitations, practicalities, and outcome research of each system of psychotherapy. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 442 pages
• Publisher: Thomson Brooks/Cole; 2nd edition (January 1984)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0534107087
• ISBN-13: 978-0534107086
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,081,471 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A major step toward integration of the psychotherapies, August 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis (Hardcover)

In this, their 4th edition, Prochaska and Norcross have begun to achieve their goal--to make the cross-theoretical themes stronger than the language-bound and often confusing differences among psychotherapy theorists. As they clearly demonstrate, the similar themes among theories of talk therapy are strong and the differences among the leading theories are often subtle.

My graduate students, though, seem to still need some help at times sorting out the authors' voices from those of the original theorists. I hope to see future editions in which the readers' confusions are anticipated better and there is a better "safety net" to hang onto when the illusion of theoretical certainty is withdrawn.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Standard yet different, April 9, 2004

By	Sandor Freud - See all my reviews

This review is from: Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis (Hardcover)

The authors adequately aquaint the reader with a broad overview of the main theories of psychotherapy and use a language that is accessible to the advanced reader. They also provide personal examples from thier clinical experience that give life to the theories. Brief biographies of the originators of each school of therapy are provided at the beginning of each section which adds an additional personal touch to the theories. Although not extensive, the authors attempt to give the reader empirical data that demonstrates each theory's effectiveness in treating specific disorders. Overall, this is a compact yet comprehensive book that does what a book of its kind sets out to do: find a balance between breadth and depth.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Still exciting, still flawed, August 23, 2006

By	T. W. Blume (Detroit, MI (USA)) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Systems of Psychotherapy: A Transtheoretical Analysis (Hardcover)

I have taught graduate courses using different editions of this book for 10 years. I still see no other text that attempts to point out the many parallel ideas that appear (using different words) in the mainstream approaches. Yes, it's hard reading, and yes, they could make it a bit more reader-friendly. And why, when two White Guys are writing about the history of White Men's Theories, don't they balance things by giving women and minorities more than a token voice in the book?