Mar 11, 2016 | Book Reviews
Psychological Testing That Matters: Creating a Road Map for Effective Treatment is grounded in the Menninger-Topeka psychodynamic approach to testing. It fills a space between diagnostic work and clinical intervention and advances a philosophy of close alliance between those who provide test results and those who use them.
Psychological Testing That Matters lays a foundation for looking at four (and in a few cases, more than four) commonly used diagnostic tests that generate different kinds of data useful for counseling. These tests are discussed in detail, with examples of ways in which the standard administration of these tests can be augmented to discover additional information that deepens one’s ability to interpret client responses. These examples are particularly helpful to the practitioner who is reasonably new to clinical work or who may not have a deep understanding of the various tests.
Technical and specific information on the appropriate applications of the tests is especially interesting and useful. The treatment implications that are explained are good examples of the way in which the authors bring a multitude of testing data together to inform the therapeutic approach. The convergence of data is an important concept that runs through this text and illustrates for the counselor the importance of not relying on a single tool from which to draw conclusions. With precision and nuance, the authors discuss the untangling of story lines and how reserving conclusions is a way of ensuring an accurate depiction of what the data mean: “We are not rushing to conclusions,” but rather “letting connections arrange and rearrange . . . using repetition and convergence to steer the stream of ideas as they flow toward conclusions.”
Especially interesting are the ways in which the authors describe the diagnostic benefits of the test, not only for understanding the client’s ability to function in daily life, but perhaps just as importantly for understanding how the information revealed by the test administration is used to guide therapeutic strategies for engaging with the client in the therapeutic relationship by focusing on identifying circumstances that could interfere and cause a client to shut down. This is where the test results create the road map for treatment.
The organization of the material is one of the strengths of this book. It allows the reader to settle into the material comfortably and deeply, knowing the architecture of the narrative road. It also challenges the reader who may find the level of technicality, particularly in test scoring explanations, repetitive and uninspiring.
The technical diagnostic expertise and clinical prowess of the authors is remarkable and make this book a resource that many clinicians could use. However, as they insightfully acknowledge, the tools available today to simplify diagnosing and reporting also give rise to the concern that the “synthesis from a large quantity of highly complex data[,] . . . wide array of theoretically and empirically based interpretive sources[, and] . . . emotional experiences of the patient’s interior world” make this approach unmanageable in environments where counselors practice now. However, the authors do build a compelling case for the efficacy of their approach, which speaks to the art of their diagnostic and clinical work. It is clear that we may be losing an important piece of clinical competence if we lose appreciation for the knowledge the authors have mastered and share in this book.
Psychological Testing That Matters presents a multi-layered approach to effective treatment with rich case examples of many test applications. This book is important because it reinforces the appropriate uses of certain tests as one element of solid clinical diagnosis and treatment. Further, the book is accessible to a graduate-level practitioner audience in counseling and, with the elegant use of metaphors, is an engaging read.
Bram, A. D., & Peebles, M. J. (2014). Psychological testing that matters: Creating a road map for effective treatment. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Reviewed by: Christine Z. Somervill, University of Phoenix, Tempe, AZ.
The Professional Counselor
https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/
Mar 11, 2016 | Book Reviews
Career counseling is often overly associated with “test-and-tell” (Preble, 2015) psychometrics such as interest inventories and personality assessments. Many leading scholars and practitioners have advocated for the addition of alternative approaches and methods, especially in this postmodern, post-recession world of work. Pyle and Hayden have afforded counselors and those in related helping professions insights for the use of groups in career development through group career counseling (GCC).
Group Career Counseling: Practices and Principles provides ample information to practitioners in a straightforward, inviting, logically sequenced and useful fashion. Pyle and Hayden organized the text in a manner that allows material to flow. First, the authors provided readers with background information that includes the aims of GCC. Then specific examples of practice, the discussion of probable settings and strategies and different applications follow. The incorporation of a spectrum of GCC foci, ranging from cognitive to affective, allows counselors to identify the appropriate type of group counseling topic for each assemblage. Finally, Pyle and Hayden demonstrated how group career counseling applies to multiple orientations and theoretical foundations through a discussion of a multitude of counseling theories—which include the full traditional gamut from Freudian Psychoanalytic to Glasser’s Reality Therapy—and career development theories—RIASEC to SCCT—with applications for each, respectively.
Pyle and Hayden aimed to promote group career counseling with goals of developing understanding, facilitating use, and catering to the needs of professional counselors. The authors differentiated group counseling from group guidance, and produced a rationale and clear definition for the former. The text espoused the benefits of GCC through a focus on basic principles. Pyle and Hayden equipped readers with a highly-detailed, scripted example comprised of multiple group sessions, and thought-out activities which could be adjusted and marketed for use in various settings. In addition, the format allows for ease of reproduction, so an individual may copy a section of the text for use in practice. Finally, references act as a database for individuals wanting more information on group counseling.
Strengths abound. Pyle and Hayden not only added to the literature regarding career development, group counseling and counseling methods, but furnished counselors with just the right amount of useful information to increase knowledge and support practice. Well organized and thought-out, with careful attention to support both practitioner and counselees, Group Career Counseling allows for the adoption, expansion and ease of facilitation. To add, the work serves as an easy-to-use reference for both scholar and practitioner, both a manual to review while preparing for a session and a resource guiding individuals toward further source materials.
Some may argue that limitations exist. For example, Pyle and Hayden did not address feminist and multicultural counseling theories. However, discussions regarding intake considerations, group settings and strategies for implementation suggest awareness of said approaches. Moreover, others may maintain that the authors fell short by not including data demonstrating the statistical significance of this approach. That said practitioners could quite easily employ their own metrics to determine the impact of GCC on their respective populations.
In the final analysis, I strongly recommend Group Career Counseling for both licensed professional counselors, school counselors at multiple levels, and various other helping professionals who focus on career development interests. Concise, efficient, informative and useful, Group Career Counseling: Practices and Principles could foster the implementation of group counseling, diversify current practices, and allow for greater employability within multiple populations.
Pyle, K. R., & Hayden, S. C. W. (2015). Group career counseling: Practices and principles (2nd edition). Broken Arrow, OK: National Career Development Association.
Reviewed by: Brian C. Preble, Old Dominion University
The Professional Counselor
http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org
Oct 1, 2015 | Book Reviews
In Treating Psychosis: A Clinician’s Guide to Integrating Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, Compassion-Focused Therapy and Mindfulness Approaches within the Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Tradition, Nicola P. Wright et al. offer valuable knowledge and concrete, practical application of theory, interventions and strategies for clinicians looking to augment their work with individuals who experience psychosis. The authors do an excellent job of laying a foundation that explains how psychosis can cause problems for individuals suffering from it, while concurrently maintaining a compassionate stance.
The book is divided into nine modules that build upon one another sequentially and address different components of the counseling process, including initial conceptualization and group implementation, the therapeutic relationship, assessment, treatment planning, emotion regulation and resilience, treating distressing thoughts and voices, and recovery maintenance. Throughout the modules, Wright et al. include clinical examples and exercises to help the reader apply the text to clinical practice. The book also has an abundant appendix of forms that counselors can utilize in every stage of work with clients, from initial screening and assessment to more in-depth work after initial rapport occurs, such as emotion identification, core beliefs, coping strategies and voice management, in order to help clients minimize distress. Additionally, the authors provide a thorough collection of resources and further reading for clinicians to supplement their expertise and practice.
The authors are concise and craft a comprehensive strategy for working clinically with this population in only 159 pages. The text is approachable and conversational and the subject matter is explained with person-centered compassion and sensitivity. The interventions recommended are easy to apply and simple in their explanation. The overarching philosophy promoted by the authors is an intent focus on understanding clients’ experiences with voices and distressing thoughts. With this better understanding, clinicians can empower clients to establish more control in their lives using a blend of cognitive-behavioral, compassion-focused, mindfulness, and acceptance and commitment techniques—including commanding voices, bringing beliefs more in line with personal values, and ultimately establishing a more positive relationship with thoughts and voices—in order to enhance emotional regulation, build resilience, and increase overall congruence to decrease distress for clients experiencing psychosis.
The main limitation associated with the book is the breadth of approaches that the authors attempt to include in their comprehensive approach. While the blending of the four separate approaches of acceptance and commitment therapy, compassion-focused therapy, mindfulness, and cognitive-behavioral therapy is ambitious and often successful, at times the overarching strategy comes across as piecemeal and may benefit from a more fully integrated perspective. For example, while the authors utilize a variety of interventions from each of the approaches under the cognitive-behavioral umbrella, at times the integration of these four strategies does not feel fully realized. However, in terms of applying the information in everyday practice, the book is practical and easily applicable.
Treating Psychosis is a useful resource for counselors who work regularly with a clientele experiencing psychosis that interferes with everyday life. The book offers straightforward strategies, interventions and perspectives for decreasing distress around invasive voices and thoughts.
Wright, N. P., Turkington, D., Kelly, O. P., Davies, D., Jacobs, A. M., & Hopton, J. (2014). Treating psychosis: A clinician’s guide to integrating acceptance & commitment therapy, compassion-focused therapy & mindfulness approaches within the cognitive behavioral therapy tradition. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Reviewed by: Allison Jeanne Agresti, NCC, McLeod Addictive Disease Center, Marion, NC.
The Professional Counselor
https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/
Sep 18, 2015 | Book Reviews
Working with adolescents is a challenge in any helping role. Teachers, counselors, volunteers and youth leaders all experience some of the same obstacles when working with this age group. “How do you communicate understanding to resistant teenagers? Do they respect me? Why are they always in a bad mood? Do they ever make eye contact? What are appropriate expectations for behavior?” In What Works with Teens, licensed social workers Britt Rathbone and Julie Baron address many concerns that face people working with adolescents by providing information on development as well as tangible ways to help build better relationships with young people.
Part 1 of the book, “Welcome to the World of Adolescence,” gives a succinct summary of adolescent development. Rathbone and Baron set the foundation of adolescent socio-emotional behavior by giving a brief overview of teens’ brain structure. Rathbone and Baron discuss neuroscience in a way that makes the information attainable and understandable to people of any profession, including those with limited background in this type of science. They then discuss the priorities of adolescents, their emotional needs, and stereotypes that adults may have about young people that cause barriers in their work and in connecting with adolescent clients. While detailing components of adolescence that adults may have forgotten, the writers also highlight many similarities that adults and teens have in the ways they think and the things they value. The authors state that everyone values respect and authenticity; the expression of those qualities may just look different in adults and teens.
In part 2 of the book, “Putting Skills to Work,” the authors discuss important qualities needed when building relationships with young people, while giving tangible ways to improve and to measure success in work with youth. The book discusses respect, authenticity, kindness, predictability, acceptance and change. In each chapter there are anecdotes of times when adolescents experienced as well as failed to experience these qualities in their relationship with adults. These stories help emphasize the importance of relationship in creating change within young people as well as provide a context for readers when thinking about their own work with youth.
Although not specifically written for counselors, What Works with Teens is a very useful resource for professional counselors in school, clinical mental health or college settings. The skills discussed in part 2 complement the strength-based approach that counselors take when working with others. What Works with Teens highlights the importance of building relationships with teens and empowering them to make their own change, much like counselors do in their work with others in any setting. This book aims not to teach adults on how to tell young people what to do, or what they should do, but rather is an aid to adults in building better alliances with adolescents. The qualities discussed in What Works with Teens are valuable in not only working with teens, but in any therapeutic relationship. The authors emphasize meeting all adolescents where they are, an approach that counselors often take with any client.
What Works with Teens is a comprehensive resource for any professional working with young people. Beginning with adolescent development, the authors outline how and why adolescents often behave and feel the way they do. The authors then proceed to discuss ways to help build positive relationships with youth, and how to incorporate teens into discussion of the relationship and ways to improve. An authentic and trusting relationship between youth and adults is essential to healthy growth and development. What Works with Teens gives adults attainable goals in building relationship with youth. Using these values to build a therapeutic alliance, adults will be better equipped to empower teens to take ownership of their own growth and development.
Rathbone, B. H., & Baron, J. B. (2015). What works with teens: A professional’s guide to engaging authentically with adolescents to achieve lasting change. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger.
Reviewed by: Hannah Kirby, NCC, Creative Counseling and Learning Solutions, Rowan County, NC.
The Professional Counselor
https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/
Aug 18, 2015 | Book Reviews
With a recent surge in empirical support for mind–body approaches, many counselors are hungry for tools to assist them in learning to effectively use mindfulness and yoga for self-care and in clinical practice. Catherine P. Cook-Cottone offers just such a tool with her well-researched book, Mindfulness and Yoga for Self-Regulation.
The book is organized into four carefully developed sections. The author begins by weaving a conceptual framework from current literature, anecdotal experience, and both Hindu and Buddhist teachings. The primary focus is on self-regulation and dysregulation in the context of mental health as well as mindfulness and yogic philosophy. For example, the author describes how her conceptualization of embodied self-regulation differs from more traditional approaches. She identifies the risks associated with dysregulation and the corresponding mental health issues. She distills the major tenets guiding mindfulness and yogic philosophy into twelve principles termed “embodied practices” for living, and discusses the application of these practices in clinical settings.
In part two, “The Mindful Self,” Cook-Cottone elaborates on the clinical relevance of the philosophy of mindfulness. She provides information about formal and informal mindfulness practice in the context of counselor self-care and applications in clinical practice. The structure of part three mirrors part two, with an emphasis on yoga. The author presents the foundation of yogic philosophy and guidelines and tips for formal and informal practice, as well as information about creating a practice, including finding yoga teachers, different styles of yoga and possible risks involved. In the fourth and final part of the book, topics such as treatment protocols, contradictions and self-care are addressed. Cook-Cottone concludes the book by addressing mindful self-care as a self-regulating practice.
Although there is a wealth of information presented in this primer, there are also some areas that may be ripe for further exploration. For instance, there is little information provided about the use of specific yoga asanas (poses). However, to address this, the author provides a rationale for this choice and points the reader to excellent resources for learning poses and sequences (e.g., teachers, books, Web sites). Also, though cultural context is provided throughout the text, cultural sensitivity is not the focus of this book. It would be useful for future publications to offer a more in depth look at multicultural issues related to integrating mindfulness and yoga in clinical practice. Though it is not possible to cover everything in just one book, there are many areas that are thoughtfully addressed in this primer.
The in-depth attention that is given to each topic makes this book a robust resource for counselors. The author provides a host of strategies and resources to use both during and between sessions, including tips, cautions, worksheets, meditation scripts, assessment tools, and suggested open-ended questions for intervention and assessment. For example, when describing the philosophy of mindfulness, the author not only outlines concepts of the Eightfold Path, but also provides links to clinical practice, including questions for clients such as, “What does the phrase ‘pain is inevitable, suffering is optional’ mean to you?” She also includes case studies and instructional stories to help the reader understand key points and how these concepts translate into clinical practice.
Cook-Cottone suggests that utilizing mindfulness and yoga in clinical practice requires counselor commitment to personal practice, acceptance of clients on their unique path, and development of mindfulness and yoga-informed clinical knowledge and skills. This book is a rich resource to guide counselors toward that end.
Cook-Cottone, C. P. (2015). Mindfulness and yoga for self-regulation: A primer for mental health professionals. New York, NY: Springer.
Reviewed by: Jamie E. Crockett, NCC, Wake Forest University
The Professional Counselor
http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org
Aug 5, 2015 | Book Reviews
In Community Mental Health: Challenges for the 21st Century, Jessica Rosenberg and Samuel Rosenberg provide a comprehensive overview of the most up-to-date research on best practices in community mental health in today’s culture and political climate. The quality of information that this book provides is strengthened by the unique contributions of experts from numerous mental health-focused disciplines, including social work, psychiatry, psychology, nursing, public health and law. Infused into each chapter is an emphasis on the importance of addressing the stigma associated with mental health concerns and promoting a recovery philosophy that empowers individuals to pursue lives that go beyond simply resigning themselves to living unresponsively with mental illness.
Community Mental Health is a 320-page book that covers a range of topics and unfolds into six major sections. In Part One, chapter authors describe how stigma impacts persons with mental health issues in general and how being a part of a marginalized group often compounds that stigma. The authors then describe a recovery philosophy that emphasizes mental health treatment founded on hope, respect and humane treatment. Part Two of the text focuses on emerging trends in mental health care, including work with veterans returning from active combat and developments in forensic mental health. In Part Three, community mental health is approached from a developmental perspective, with authors examining work carried out with children and adolescents, families, and an elderly population that is increasing due to the aging Baby Boomer generation. Part Four explores considerations related to counseling diverse populations, ranging from the historical and present racism experienced by African Americans, to ways of providing mental health services that account for differing cultural perspectives. In Part Five, chapter authors describe up-to-date best practices for working in community settings with varying populations, including assertive community treatment and treatments for adults experiencing both mental and substance use disorders. Finally, Part Six analyzes the circumstances that influence how public policy and the changing landscape of our society impact community mental health.
Community Mental Health possesses many strengths. Each chapter concludes with discussion questions, learning assignments, suggested readings and Internet resources that facilitate continued conversation about and exploration of each chapter’s respective theme, making this book especially valuable for use in a dialogical setting. The text carries a message for students and professionals alike—advocacy remains an essential component of the activity of mental health practitioners. It also serves as a compelling reminder of how much of counseling work necessitates addressing the stigma of mental health, both with clients and within the society in which clients live.
A potential limitation of Community Mental Health is that, because the book addresses a number of different topics and populations, it does not always provide great detail about the evidence-based treatment practices cited. The text also does not always provide its reader with case studies to further describe how community-based treatments work in actual application with clients. Although one merit of the book is providing a strong overview of each of the different topics presented, readers who desire more in-depth information may need to seek out further resources. However, the chapter authors address this issue by suggesting both additional readings and Internet resources.
Community Mental Health: Challenges for the 21st Century is a valuable resource for current and future mental health professionals, policy makers and advocates, and represents an important resource for those engaged in increasing the effectiveness and humaneness of mental health service provision.
Rosenberg, J., & Rosenberg, S. (Eds.). (2013). Community mental health: Challenges for the 21st century. New York, NY: Routledge.
Reviewed by: Adam Miller, graduate student, Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL.
The Professional Counselor
https://tpcjournal.nbcc.org/
