Sep 19, 2016 | Book Reviews
As part of ethical practice, counselors must integrate the process of assessment and evaluation into their work as an essential, guiding tool. Joshua C. Watson and Brandé Flamez weave this theme throughout their book, Counseling Assessment and Evaluation: Fundamentals of Applied Practice. The book offers the basic fundamentals of counseling assessment and evaluation while providing the steps to translate the base of knowledge into sound research and clinical practice.
The book is organized into three sections. In the first section, the authors begin with the principles and foundations of counseling assessment, including an introduction; the basic statistical concepts; reliability; validity; selecting, administering, scoring and reporting assessment results; and how to integrate assessment into counseling practice. Within the chapters, the authors include brief sections for self-reflection or application, referred to as guided practice exercises, that facilitate a deeper understanding of the information and the application of assessment and evaluation into practice.
In section two, the authors provide an overview of the most common assessment areas. The authors selected six assessment areas to cover for readers: intelligence and general ability assessment; achievement and aptitude assessment; standardized methods of personality assessment; projective methods of personality assessment; behavioral assessment; and career and vocational assessment. These chapters are arranged with case illustrations to provide concrete examples and with tables and figures to display information and break up the text appropriately.
Lastly, the third section includes information about the application of and common issues with assessment and evaluation. This information was scattered throughout the previous sections; however, the four chapters in section three provide more detail and space for application. The chapters specifically consist of details about clinical assessment (including decision-making models, DSM-V), outcome assessment and program evaluation, assessment issues with diverse populations, and ethical and legal issues.
Counseling Assessment and Evaluation: Fundamentals of Applied Practice is a well thought out, inclusive resource for counselors. The book did not present glaring issues or deficiencies in terms of content or design. Given the scientific and mathematical nature of the material, the authors could possibly explore ways to cover a more broad range of learning styles of readers in future text editions. Overall, the authors provide in-depth information about each topic area and devote critical attention to the application of assessment and evaluation into practice, making this a strong resource for counselors.
Watson, J. C., & Flamez, B. (2015). Counseling assessment and evaluation: Fundamentals of applied practice. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Reviewed by: Traci Collins, NCC
The Professional Counselor
http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org
Mar 11, 2016 | Book Reviews
Depression 101 by Emily Durbin is a thorough resource for counselors of all skill levels interested in learning or refreshing themselves on the diagnostic and syntonic features of depression. This text covers Major Depressive Disorder (MDD), Dysthymic Disorder (DD), and Bipolar Disorder (BD) in such depth that it could be utilized as a reference text. The author indicates that the aim of the book is to emphasize and bring clarity to the different ways scientific disciplines have approached depression. Dr. Durbin explores how this has affected our understanding of depression spectrum disorders and in turn has resulted in how the field of counseling identifies individuals with depressive mood and structures treatment models.
The text begins by operationalizing and describing the characteristics used to diagnose MDD, DD and BD. Dr. Durbin then explains how these symptoms manifest, who is likely to be diagnosed, and how mood disturbance effects functioning. She concludes with treatment models and recommendations on how to integrate the presented information into practice. The text presents information about depression in a concise manner and consistently includes a variety of references for the topics discussed. It is evident that Dr. Durbin synthesized information from an assortment of sources to give the reader a comprehensive view of the described disorders.
The most applicable section of the text for counselors is the section on integrating the information into practice. Academic books often present a plethora of new information, but it is difficult to figure out how to incorporate it into already established therapeutic practice. This text not only presents an extensive amount of information and research, but summarizes a plan for integration at the end of the book. My only suggestion would be to lengthen this section to further examine the practical implications for the research presented in the subsequent chapters.
Overall, this text is a phenomenal resource for counselors, counselor educators and graduate students alike. I would not consider Dr. Durbin’s book a light read, but she does an excellent job of presenting a vast amount of information in a relatively short text. I have no doubt that I will be referencing this book in the future and utilizing its wide-ranging reference list. After all, depression is considered the “common cold” of psychological disorders. It would be a great disservice to many of our clients to not have a thorough understanding of the disorder that is most frequently reported. Dr. Durbin’s text is an excellent desk reference to serve that purpose.
Durbin, C. E. (2015). Depression 101. New York, NY: Springer.
Reviewed by: Charmayne R. Adams, Wake Forest University
The Professional Counselor
http://tpcjournal.nbcc.org
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/
