If
you are a mental health professional, or are studying to be one, chances are
good that you already own David Barlow’s Clinical
Handbook of Psychological Disorders. The book, now in its third edition,
features well-established treatment protocols for fourteen of the most commonly
encountered psychological disorders.

New
to this edition are three protocols: ‘interpersonal psychotherapy for
depression’, ‘cocaine dependence’ and ‘bipolar disorder,’ each reflecting
recent developments in the clinical intervention for these disorders. There is
also a more extensive coverage of alcohol dependence and sexual dysfunction
than in previous editions.

The
chapters are written by prominent clinicians and researchers who relate their
scientific and practical expertise on the conceptualization, assessment, and
therapeutic intervention for these disorders. Chapters typically provide a
brief description of the pathology, an explanation of the model or theory that
guides the particular treatment, an explanation of the typical setting and
social context for treatment, and finally, a detailed step-by-step treatment
protocol, sometimes accompanied by transcripts from therapy sessions and
various forms and schedules useful in clinical practice. Whenever possible, empirical evidence for the efficacy of these
protocols, and clinical predictors of its success or failure are also included.

Clinical vignettes hold the readers
attention between semi-technical accounts of theory and treatment protocol. The chapters are clear, concise and even
accessible to some non-professionals. Patients and their families, who are
looking to familiarize themselves with a particular therapeutic process, may
find this book helpful. This degree of accessibility is hard to come by in
similar handbooks on psychotherapy, and for this reason, it is widely used as a
textbook for incoming graduate students of clinical psychology. Despite this
fact, even the most experienced of therapists will find plenty to incorporate
into their clinical practice.

Click
here to see the table of contents at the publisher’s
website; psychologists will recognize the names of some distinguished
colleagues.

Click
here to see a list of books on psychotherapy and other
clinical issues published by Guilford Press.

Click
here to browse similar books published by the American
Psychological Association (APA).

© 2002 Jayanta Hegde

Jayanta Hegde studies
Psychology at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. He is presently
involved in a study of brain activation patterns in depressed individuals with
negative information-processing biases. General academic interests include
psychopathology, neuropsychology/philosophy, and philosophy of the mind.

Categories: Psychotherapy, MentalHealth