Book Review: Handbook of Individual Therapy

Handbook of Individual Therapy (1996). The current edition like its predecessors is destined to be the definitive guide on the subject from a British Perspective. It covers thirteen schools of therapy. Psychodynamic therapy from Freudian, Kleinian and Jungian perspectives, Adlerian therapy, Person-Centred therapy, Personal Construct therapy, Existential therapy, Gestalt therapy, Transactional Analysis, Cognitive Analytical therapy, Cognitive therapy, Behaviour therapy and Rational Emotive therapy. A leading British proponent of these schools has written each chapter. The key to this book's success as with the first edition, is the excellent editor's template, which is included in the appendix. It is recommended that a reader study this template first before reading any of the chapters on schools of therapy. The template includes the following: Historical context of the therapy and its development in Britain; theoretical assumptions of the school including the image of the person, conceptualisation of psychological disturbance and health, how psychological disturbance is acquired, how psychological disturbance is perpetuated and how people change; key issues in the practice of each therapy such as goals of therapy, selection criteria, qualities of effective therapists, therapeutic relationship and style, major therapeutic strategies and techniques, the change process in therapy and the limitation of the approach. The template also includes a case description of a British client. This structure makes the chapters very accessible and readable. Credit is also due to the individual authors for making their chapters very readable, instructive and enjoyable.

It has to be acknowledged that distilling the essential concepts from each school of therapy and summarising them in a user-friendly form is no easy task. For the reader who wishes to gain more in-depth information, each chapter contains recommended reading list as well as key references. The introductory chapter gives brief history of psychotherapy from a British perspective with key developmental milestones which makes it useful for a reader who wishes to place the scene within an international context. Psychotherapy research is summarised in chapter 15 again with a historical template. This makes it an excellent brief introduction to the field of psychotherapy research and a useful guide to a student before consulting a more comprehensive text such as Bergin and Garfield's (1995) Handbook of Psychotherapy and Behaviour Change (a new edition of which is scheduled to be published in 2003 by Wiley). The chapter on training and supervision chapter also distils the key issues in this area and provides a useful resource to any one involved in teaching and training.

This book is strongly recommended to students of therapy, which would include those doing training in counselling and therapy, trainee psychiatrists, trainee clinical and counselling psychologists, nursing students, occupational therapy and social work students. It would also be helpful to undergraduate students of psychology and related disciplines. It would be helpful to a therapy practitioner if he or she needs a quick reference on other types of therapy for example to produce an alternative formulation. It would also be a helpful reference book for practitioners to answer questions about other forms of therapy or give a concise account of their own school for some one to read. For an existential therapy practitioner the book could help serve the same functions.

The strengths of the book can also be flagged up as its weaknesses. The lack of scope to go into any depth into the subject matter condemns it to be a reference book rather than a therapy textbook, apart for undergraduate courses. Because it is written from a British perspective, describing the practice of psychotherapy in the UK it is bound to have less international appeal. The list of thirteen therapies covered also raises questions about the criteria of selection of therapies to be included in the book. Perhaps these criteria needs to be more transparent. It is acknowledged that the therapy world is a dynamic one with new therapies being developed with some therapies gaining assent and other therapies or therapy schools finding themselves in decline, thereby making it a difficult task to establish and definitive shortlist. The inclusion of Cognitive Analytical therapy in this edition, the editor note, is a result of feedback and by the same token invites further feedback. Perhaps greater regulation of the therapy world with impending registration may produce the statistical data needed for short listing.

In summary the book achieves what it set out to achieve and builds on its previous editions. It is well written, very well compiled and is very readable. It is recommended as a resource and a reference book to any one involved in psychological therapy work in the UK as a trainee, student, practitioner or teacher.

Dr Shamil Wanigaratne

Shamil Wanigaratne