Comprehensive Textbook of Psychotherapy: Theory and Practice

New developments in psychotherapy research and practice over the past twenty years require a new perspective from a psychotherapy book. Until recently, approaches to clinical practices were presented as competing truths. Each one was viewed as a distinct, all-encompassing system of thought and clinical practice. Therapists were expected to decide which school they favored and then apply its treatment methods consistently to all patients. This is no longer the case.
While a growing body of empirical research supports the efficacy of treatment over no treatment, it does not endorse any one treatment as superior to all others. Moreover, most psychotherapists today acknowledge that they draw on therapeutic insights and techniques from a number of psychological schools of thought.
To guide therapists in developing their own style of effective psychotherapy, Bruce Bongar and Larry E. Beutler have assembled a work that provides an overview of the field and an understanding of the essential features of the leading schools of psychotherapy. They bring together experts who introduce the individual theories and practice techniques from these schools and guide the reader in discovering which approaches work best for which patients.

Bruce Bongar is Professor of Psychology at Pacific Graduate School and Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine. He is the author of Suicide (Oxford 1993) and The Suicidial Patient and Series Editor for the Oxford Textbooks in Clinical Psychology. Dr Bongar is a diplomate of the American Board of Professional Psychology, a chartered psychologist of the British Psychological Society, and a fellow of the American Psychological Association and of the Academy of Psychosomatic Medicine.
Larry E. Beutler is Professor and Director of the Counseling/Clinical/School Psychology Program at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Dr. Beutler is the editor of several books, including, Systematic Treatment Selection (with J. Clarkin), Psychotherapy Research (with M. Crago), and Comprehensive Handbook of Cognitive Therapy (with A. Freeman, K.E. Simon, and H. Arkowitz), and the editor of the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. He is also on the Editorial Board for the Oxford Textbooks in Clinical Psychology, a fellow of APS, Past-President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and a member of the Fellows Committee, Division of Psychotherapy, American Psychological Association.