The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy: (Guides to Individualized Evidence-Based Treatment)

This eagerly awaited book shows how skillful case formulation addresses a critical challenge in psychotherapy today: how to use empirically supported therapies (ESTs) in real-world clinical contexts. The author explains the basic theories of cognition, learning, and emotion that underlie available ESTs and shows how the theories also guide systematic case formulation. By crafting a sound formulation and continually refining and monitoring it as treatment progresses, the therapist can smoothly shift theoretical gears and weave together elements of different ESTs to meet the needs of individual patients, who typically present with multiple problems. Hands-on tools, reproducibles, and many concrete examples are included.

Table of Contents:
1. What Is the Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy? 2. Cognitive Theories and Their Clinical Implications 3. Learning Theories and Their Clinical Implications 4. Emotion Theories and Their Clinical Implications 5. Beginning the Therapeutic Relationship and Obtaining a Problem List and Diagnosis 6. Developing an Initial Case Formulation and Setting Treatment Goals 7. Using the Formulation to Develop a Treatment Plan and Obtain the Patient’s Consent to It 8. The Therapeutic Relationship 9. Monitoring Progress 10. Decision Making in the Therapy Session 11. Handling Nonadherence and Treatment Failure 12. Decision Making over the Course of Therapy

About the Author :
Jacqueline B. Persons, PhD, is Director of the San Francisco Bay Area Center for Cognitive Therapy and Clinical Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Berkeley. She is a clinician, teacher, researcher, writer, and scientist-practitioner. She maintains an active clinical practice, providing cognitive-behavior therapy for mood and anxiety disorders and related problems, and teaches and provides clinical supervision to students and professionals in many settings. Dr. Persons conducts research on the mechanisms underpinning symptoms of depression and anxiety and on the process and outcome of cognitive-behavior therapy, especially as it is implemented in routine clinical practice. Her first book, Cognitive Therapy in Practice: A Case Formulation Approach, published by W. W. Norton in 1989, is widely considered a classic. She is past president of the Association for Advancement of Behavior Therapy (now the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies) and of the Society for a Science of Clinical Psychology, a section of the Society of Clinical Psychology of the American Psychological Association.

Review :
"Decades of research and clinical experience meet in this seminal book. Persons provides a guide for both the novice and experienced practitioner to deal with even the most complex of cases. This significant work will no doubt become the shining light by which the idiographic approach to CBT will be guided in the future. One of the few books that is worth even more than the purchase price!" - Nicholas Tarrier, Department of Clinical Psychology, University of Manchester, UK "Persons's insights into case formulation are second to none. This book brilliantly demonstrates that you don't have to sacrifice good science to be an excellent clinician, and vice versa...Persons's rare combination of clinical practicality and scientific dedication makes her a role model for every young scientist-clinician." - Marsha M. Linehan, Professor and Director, Behavioral Research and Therapy Clinics, University of Washington, USA "This book's sophisticated blending of case-level formulation with empirical principles of behavior change is a threshold event in CBT's ongoing engagement with clinical complexity, comorbidity, and nonadherence." - Zindel V. Segal, Morgan Firestone Chair in Psychotherapy, University of Toronto, Canada "There is no greater challenge facing mental health professionals than moving from scientific theory and research to clinical practice. Persons has addressed this critical issue for many years, and has come up with solutions that demand the attention of serious health professionals. She convincingly shows how to analyze complex cases in ways that are both scientifically sound and practically feasible and effective. Persons is the consummate scientist-practitioner. This book is a 'must read.'" - Gerald C. Davison, William and Sylvia Kugel Dean's Chair, and Professor of Gerontology and Psychology, University of Southern California, USA