A research paper

Book Review

The Practical Therapist Series Impact Publishers

This is a series of books devoted to teaching skills and techniques in a variety of therapeutic approaches. Many of these books will appeal to counselling psychogists around the world and it appears that there will be additional books published in the series. So far I have received four books. Rather than review each book sepa- rately, I’ll mention each one brie� y and com- ment more generally on the series.

The � rst I received was Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (1998) by Albert Ellis, PhD and Catharine MacLaren, MSW. This is basic- ally vintage Ellis although it is updated with comparisons with other recent theoretical ap- proaches. I am familiar with many of Dr Ellis’s earlier writings and, although the concepts are similar, there are enough differences, both in form and examples, to make this book worth reading as well. Essentially it is Ellis in part responding to his critics over the years and further re� ning his concepts. Besides the theory chapters, there are separate chapters on REBT assessment, cognitive techniques, emotive/ex- periential techniques, behavioural techniques, and the integration of REBT with other systems. As an illustration of the updating men- tioned earlier, there are now distinctions made among various types of disputing. The integra- tion chapter predictably implies that REBT comprehensively includes other systems and was there � rst. But it’s a good read and either a good � rst introduction or an updated refresher to REBT. There are numerous clinical snippets and a few examples of therapist-client dialogues.

The second book is Metaphor in Psychother- apy (1998) by Henry T. Close, ThM. It has

been heavily in� uenced by the reframing, story-telling, and utilization techniques of Milton Erickson. Stylistically it tends to ramble but it is easy to read and engrossing. Many of the chapters are organized around a central metaphor (e.g. the ‘Slimy green monster; a story addressing children’s phobias’). But is isn’t always apparent what problem or con- cerns the metaphors are addressing. Other chapters discuss such topics as metaphor and reframing, drama and metaphor, and medita- tion and fantasy. The book is short on examples of client problems (other than the metaphors themselves) and therapist-client dialogue is al- most non-existent. Its primarily a discussion book and the reader will have to think about how to use these metaphors (or any metaphors) in therapy. But its style makes it very approach- able although the organization is not clear. But many of Erickson’s works read this way—it just requires a little more effort from the reader.

The third book is Creative Therapy with Children and Adolescents (1999) by Angela Hob- day, MSc and Kate Ollier, Mpsych. This is a British book and indeed is labelled, ‘A British Psychological Society Book’. This one is very tightly organized and highly speci� c in tech- nique; indeed, its really a detailed therapy man- ual. The introduction sets the stage by describing topics such as the organization of the book, the format of the sessions, the setting, materials needed, and general tips for working with children. The remainder of the chapters describe very speci� c and age-graded exercises for different purposes and how to implement them. The topics covered are; getting to know you, feelings, increasing motivation to change, becoming less stressed, learning new skills, im- proving coping skills, coming to terms with loss, understanding my family, promoting positive self-esteem and reviewing progress. There are even many illustrations but no client examples or therapist-client dialogue. Even I, with no background in working with children, could likely implement many of the strategies. But it might not be wise if I did so; ‘a little learning is a dangerous thing’.

The fourth is Integrative Brief Therapy, Cog- nitive, Psychodynamic, Humanistic and Neuro- behavioural Approaches (1999) by John Preston, PsyD. Because of the complexity of the approach, it is more dif� cult to summarize this book in a short space. What Dr Preston has

Counselling Psychology Quarterly ISSN 0951–5070 print/ISSN 1469–3674 online # 2000 Taylor & Francis Ltd http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals

Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 3, 2000, pp. 321 – 322

done is to touch on a large number of thera- peutic approaches—including all of those in the title and development approaches as well as such concepts as the mentally healthy individual and handing resistance. Although he references many writers from each tradition, he provides his own ideas on these topics, often by boxes illustrating key concepts. Thus, an enormous amount of material is covered in one book. Because of its sheer scope, however, concepts come and go with great rapidity and it isn’t always clear how they � t together or how one might create therapeutic strategies derived from them. This is re� ected in the individual chapters which are often quite short. The book is light as well on case examples and therapist-client illus- trative dialogue. Nevertheless, it’s an impressive integration of many approaches and the inclu- sion of often-neglected topics such as resistance and the newer neurobiological model is com- mendable. I personally found it very interesting and informative.

So what are my impressions of the series? I have served as Associate Editor of a similar practically-oriented book series (‘Counselling in Practice’, Sage) so I am familiar with the prob- lems inherent in an undertaking of this magni- tude. There is generally a tension between allowing individual author variation (resulting in dissimilar books and sometimes customer

disappointment) and forcing each book into a Procrustean Bed and thereby reducing creativ- ity. This series tends toward the former. There is considerable variation in the practical nature of the books I have examined so far—with some including numerous examples and other relying primarily on conceptual discussion. The books also vary considerably in length, from a high of 305 to a low of 166 pages. The organizational structure is not common across the books and it appears that the individual authors were not given a template to follow. What is similar across these four books, however, is the read- ability and conceptual level as well as the high degree of creativity found in every volume. They are appropriate for advanced undergraduate– masters level courses as well as practicing thera- pists who wish to acquaint themselves with new concepts and techniques. They are very readable and should pose no problems in intelligibility.

I look forward to other volumes in this series and would recommend them to students and therapists who wish to broaden their knowledge base in an enjoyable way.

E. Thom as Dowd

322 Book Review