Current Psychotherapies (with Infotrac) [With Infotrac]

THIS TEXTBOOK CONTAINS GRADUATE-LEVEL MATERIAL, so you probably don't want to buy it if you aren't in grad school. You should be aware that previous editions of this book include some methods not found in this edition. This book is a great resource for graduate students because it focuses on the fundamental counseling theories and practices, which includes: Jungian, Freudian, Cognitive, Adlerian, Rogerian, and others. The material is presented in a concise manner, and each chapter is presented by a practitioner of that particular theory - so the book does not bias you towards any particular theory or practice.

I found this book at a thrift store and liked the summaries of the various therapies that I found. Many of them were short and to the point, and said everything more concisely than some books did with more pages and words. I must admit that I did not read about all the therapies in the book, but only the ones that I liked. There is a section on the "Focusing" work of Gendlin that is excellent and gives some detail not found in his classic book in the field. While it is only a few pages long, I found them worth reading and added to my understanding of his therapy, which is the basis of much process oriented therapy to this day, as well as a meditation tool. I think the reason why the article added to the understanding is because the article is historically later than his book and he is giving his later reflections. All in all, it is a good reference book.

This is, by far, my favorite book for use in teaching a Clinical Psychology course. The most appealing component of this book is that it uses theoretical formulators or significant contributors to the perspectives presented(ie., Beck, Ellis, Rollo & May, etc.) as original authors whenever possible. There are, unfortunately, some problematics in the chapters written by others (e.g., the author of the classical psychoanalysis chapter indicating, naively, that Freud's theory was deterministic - ignoring, completely, Freud's more subjective and telic explanations of psychological phenomena and that his deterministic perspectives were more add-ons to his final theory to appease his more biologically minded contemporaries...see my website: [...]). Still, even with such provisos, I recommend this book as a good introduction to theories/perspectives in clinical psychology/psychotherapy. For a better, more comprehensive reading of the grand personality theories and psychotherapies, I HIGHLY recommend you purchase a copy of Rychlak's, _Introduction to Personality and Psychotherapy_.

This book gives brief but thorough explanations of the various theories used in clinical practice. This book is dull, at times, but highly useful. A great addition to any knowledge base.

I used this book as a student in my psychotherapy course. I never knew there were so many psychotherapeutic approaches. I was amazed. I enjoyed exploring all these schools analyzed so beautifully in this book. I finally got the chance to see what school of psychotherapy was closer to my needs. I recommend it to all those who have a blurry idea of psychotherapy, like I did.