High-yield Cognitive-behavior Therapy for Brief Sessions: An Illustrated Guide

by Jesse H. Wright, Donna M. Sudak, Douglas Turkington

High-Yield Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Brief Sessions: An Illustrated Guide breaks entirely new ground in explaining how to weave together the powerful tools of CBT with pharmacotherapy in sessions shorter than the traditional 50-minute hour. Written for psychiatrists, therapists, and other clinicians, the book details ways to enrich brief sessions with practical CBT interventions that work to relieve symptoms and promote wellness. An engaging and instructive resource of video illustrations included with the book demonstrates how to successfully implement brief CBT sessions for some of the most common and important problems seen in clinical practice depression, anxiety, psychotic symptoms, suicidality, sleep disturbances, substance abuse, and coping with physical health issues. Written by practicing clinicians with extensive experience in combining CBT and pharmacotherapy, this volume builds on the constructs and techniques described in the authors earlier best-selling illustrated guides, Learning Cognitive-Behavior Therapy and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy for Severe Mental Illness. A must-read for working clinicians as well as trainees, this book offers pragmatic solutions for the challenge of providing effective psychotherapy in brief treatment sessions.

380 pages, Paperback

First published April 30, 2010

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an excellent book; one of the only reference manuals I have ever had the patience or motivation to read, cover-to-cover, in only a few short sittings. Well-organized and expertly written, the authors provide a comprehensive-yet-concise overview of the CBT techniques most likely to be effective in brief (15-30 minute) sessions.

I have already put several of the recommended techniques into practice with some of the forensic psychiatric patients I treat, and they have been very well-received thus far. The illustrated video clips provided helpful demonstrations of ways to implement and teach all of the CBT strategies, and were a great jumping-off point for me to start thinking about how I might best deliver CBT to my own client population. I am a psychologist conditioned in my training to provide services in the 50-minute hour, though for many of my clients, it is a struggle to maintain interest or attention for that length of time. 15-20 minutes is often all they can handle before eyes start wandering and attention starts drifting.

I attended one of Dr. Turkington's seminars last year, and felt this book very closely echoed the passion, enthusiasm, energy, and general amazing-ness of one of his live lectures. The other co-authors are unfamiliar to me, but I am now motivated to read more of their work and learn more about their preferred therapeutic methods.

A+.