The Complete Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner

Research suggests that an ever increasing number of practioners are relying on tools such as this to help formulate treatment plans. As a graduate student, what I find useful about this book is that after you study a particular disorder---from the DSM-IV-TR itself, a good psychopathology text (see Davison & Neal's Abnormal Psychology), and the DSM's Diagnostic Criteria handbook, The Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner completes the loop. I bought this book after taking a case studies class where the instructor did an absolutely miserable job in showing us the rhyme and reason behind a good treatment plan. Not satisfied that I knew enough about this critically important piece in the counseling process, I did some research and found this book to be the most highly regarded in this genre.As subsequent classes deal with child and adolescent psychopathology, family psychopathology, etc. etc. I will be getting the treatment plans that correspond with these issues.

If you are in the Human Service field. This book is a must. It has helped me so much. I've had this book for over 7 years and if you are learning to write service plans, you will need to get this book and the others as well. Believe me, get this book. It is worth the price and beneficial as well.

Excellent for learning how to write treatment plans, as well as for generating more alternatives for interventions. Working with the client to select the most important goals and most compelling interventions helps the client to take a more active approach to the tasks, and increases hope. The intro section teaches how to write a treatment plan, very good for grad students. I don't bill insurance, so instead of DSM-IV diagnosis as the sixth element, I write evaluation benchmarks. Another reviewer feared a cookbooky approach that reduces the human element in counseling/therapy. I disagree; developing and writing a treatment plan with a client helps to clarify what he/she really wants, instructs the client on the therapeutic process, and keeps in mind the desired outcomes. It keeps things moving forward. The transparency of the process keeps the counselor/therapist from being a mysterious expert figure, and empowers the client; some counselors/therapists may not like that, though. Those of us who work in time-limited settings can't afford months of wandering through a mysterious fog. Planning and goal-setting in therapy is part of the human process, not separate from it.

With the busy and pressured pace of many clinicians in treating clients, along with the increased demands of insurance companies and managed care organizations, the clinician has a need for easy access to effective treatment planning options. The Complete Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner (2nd ed) provides the necessary assistance for the psychotherapist in developing an effective behaviorally based treatment plan to expediently reduce client behavior symptomatology.Every chapter begins with definitions of clinical problems for which a client may be seeking treatment. This is followed by a list of possible long term goals for addressing the client's behavior. The planner then delineates specific measurable behaviors necessary for problem resolution with numerous therapeutic interventions for assisting the clients in achieving both short and long term objectives. Each chapter discusses a particular client complaint or the reason for entering treatment. The authors include 39 adult behaviorally based problems - a comprehensive list in the treatment of adults - including such problems as depression, anger management, low self-esteem, sexual dysfunction, eating disorders, intimate relationship conflicts, and grief and loss issues. Diagnostic suggestions are given at the end of each chapter to aid the clinician with possible DSM IV diagnosis for the behaviorally based problem.This treatment planner, in a user-friendly workbook format, will be a definite asset for clinicians in the development of timely, specific, client-based treatment planning. If you have not seen this planner (as well as the many others in this author's treatment planning series), be sure to do so. It will contribute significantly to your efficiency in providing care for your clients.

This 4th edition of the Adult Psychotherapy Treatment Planner has been revised to include Evidence Based Treatment (EBT) Objectives and Interventions. The latest research evidence has been integrated into the content of most of the chapters. Those Objectives and Interventions that go beyond "Best Practice" to being based on replicable reseach results are highlighted with an EBT symbol. Now the reader can be assured that all the latest research has been reviewed and suggestions for treatment based on successful results are noted in those chapters where research evidence exists. Where there is not sufficient research evidence available for a presenting problem, best practice interventions continue to be suggested. As federal funding sources as well as some other third party payers are beginning to insist on treatment based on research evidence, this Planner offers just such Interventions. Please be reminded that all of our psychotherapy suggestions assume a compassionate relationship of empathy that is crucial for effective treatment. Good psychotherapists realize the critical importance of a therapeutic relationship while delivering research informed treatment.