Search results for ""PCCS Books""

This book is an essential resource for anyone who has a supporting role or relationship with someone who hurts themself, whether in a professional or informal context. It is also a useful resource for people who self-injure, to help them to explore their experiences and to keep themselves safe. Based on interviews with people who self-injure and frontline practitioners and service managers who work with them, it explores why people self-injure, debunks myths and misconceptions about self-injury, explains self-injury in the contexts of human embodiment and a social model approach to distress and illness, and offers practical strategies for responding in meaningful ways, including using creative practices and harm-reduction. A final chapter offers guidance on how to write a harm-reduction policy for self-injury that can be used across any health, education and social services setting. This is an essential book that promotes better understanding and thus better responses to self-injury, brought to life with the words of people with first-hand experience of self-injury, for whom it is, or has been, an important coping mechanism.The book closes with a short account of Zest, a voluntary sector organisation in Northern Ireland, whose success with people who self-injure demonstrates what the guidance in this book looks like when put into practice, and that it really does work.

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Andrea Koch argues that the person-centered approach is one of the best ways of being with dreams because it has no limiting concepts of dreaming or the meaning dreams bring with them. The client's sense of her inner world is at the center of the counselling process and gives primacy to the actualizing tendency. This allows for two ground rules for being with dreams: the dreamer finds her own meaning and dreaming is a process of self-healing.

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Person-Centred and Experiential Therapies Work provides a comprehensive, systematic and accessible review of the evidence-base for the approach and the methods and measures by which it can be evaluated. It gives clear evidence for the effectiveness of person-centred and experiential therapies, and is an essential resource for students and practitioners who want to know more about the empirical support for their work, and to promote it with confidence.

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Revised and updated edition of this body psychotherapy classic, Reichain Growth Work sets out to convey the essential features of Reichian Therapy in concrete and easily understandable language. The style of body therapy which it describes is democratic, growth-oriented and undogmatic, while still committed to Reich's radical description of human beings and their difficulties. This book is for people who want to change; because only by changing, profoundly painful as that sometimes is, can we stay alive and growing.

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This series presents unparalleled, comprehensive descriptions of key counselling approaches in the twenty-first century. It is ideal for students requiring a theory bridge between introductory, intermediate and diploma courses or focused input for comparative essays and integrative theory assignments. Individual volumes are perfect supplements to the "Steps in Counselling" series as students progress in their training. "The Psychodynamic Counselling Primer" sets new standards as a succinct guide to psychodynamic theory and practice for everyone wanting an authoritative synopsis.

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Developed by Garry Prouty and his associates over a period of 30 years, Pre-Therapy is a method for anyone wanting to work with people whose ability to establish and maintain psychological contact is imparied temporarily or permanently, by illness or injury, whether organic or psychological in origin. This book presents the most complete and up-to-date formulation of Pre-Therapy philosophy, theory and practice. Applications of the method with the most difficult client groups - those described with severe psychosis and others with profound learning disabilites - are illustrated by all three authors, with detailed accounts from Dion Van Werde and Marlis Portner. Pre-Therapy has changed the practice of psychologists, psychiatrists, psychotherapists, social workers, counsellors and carers in mainland Europe; now this book introduces its revolutionary ideas to English-speaking readers.

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It is widely acknowledged that research is an essential component of the counselling and psychotherapy core curriculum. Therapists and all care practitioners not only need to be able to understand and evaluate research literature, but are also increasingly expected to carry out simple practitioner research to monitor their own practice. With its emphasis on practice-based evidence, this book provides a much-needed, reliable and accessible introduction by two trusted and well-known authors. It builds confidence by not only outlining contemporary methodologies in everyday language, but also by explaining how to approach, understand and evaluate a range of published research. Written for complete beginners in the tried and tested, best-selling style of the other books in the "Steps" series, the book covers first principles through to the development of a simple research project. In simple terms "First Steps in Practitioner Research" provides a 'how to understand and do it' resource for students, tutors and practice supervisors with little or no previous experience.

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Part of the PCCS Books bestselling Primers in Counselling series, The Existential Counselling Primer is a concise summary of the philosophical origins of existentialist therapy, existentialist understandings of what it is to be human, and how both inform the theory and practice of existential counselling. It ends with a case study to demonstrate what the approach might look like in practice and includes a helpful glossary of key terms and terminology. The PCCS Books primers offer students concise, accessible descriptions of the key counselling approaches in widespread use today. The series is ideal for students needing texts that provide a bridge between introductory, intermediate and diploma courses or easily digested summaries of the different approaches for comparative essays and integrative theory assignments. The books are perfect supplements to the Steps in Counselling series to accompany students as they progress through training. They are also a helpful for qualified counsellors considering expanding their repertoire of skills. In this revised second edition, Mick Cooper has updated the references to incorporate important additions to the literature and added to some sections to reflect developments in thinking and practice.

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The new "Counselling Primer" series from PCCS Books, supplementary to the bestselling "Steps in Counselling" series, is suitable for beginners and higher level students who want a succinct boost to their knowledge of a particular area. Beginners will find the style companionable and reassuring, while more advanced readers will appreciate the incisive and authoritative writing with pointers for further reading and resources. Trainers will find the series a dependable learning aid. "Counselling Primers" bridge the gap between introductory, intermediate and diploma level courses, each book providing a concise overview of a particular counselling approach. Each "Counselling Primer" will be a perfect essay resource or a springboard for further study. This book presents an unparalleled, comprehensive introduction to integrative counselling with a person-centred foundation in the twenty-first century. Worsley presents the principled application of the non-formulaic use of self and experience in the service of the client.This book is for students requiring: comprehensive introductory text for initial integratively-oriented training; input for comparative essays and therapeutic approaches on integrative courses; and, a theory bridge between introductory and certificate/diploma level texts. Anyone requiring a concise, understandable yet authoritative guide to the principles of integrative (rather than eclectic) counselling theory and practice based on a foundation of person-centred therapy - the preferred approach of many thousands of counsellors.

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In the same tradition as the best-selling Making and Breaking Children's Lives (PCCS Books, 2005) this is an academically thorough collection of socio-cultural and critical reviews of the place of children and children's services in society. Contributions from well-respected practitioners and academics provide perspectives on constructing childhood, parent-hood, sexuality, ADHD, children and austerity, the family court system, parental blame and responsibility, learning disabilities, and poverty. Contributors include Peter Breggin, Rudi Dallos, Pat Dudgeon, Laura Golding, Dan Goodley and Katherine Runswick-Cole.

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In this, the latest addition to the PCCS Books Critical Examination series, internationally acknowledged academic and psychotherapist, teacher and supervisor Keith Tudor focuses his spotlight on psychotherapy. The aim of the series is to subject the varied psy professions to rigorous critique by leading proponents in their fields. As Professor Ian Parker writes in the foreword: `Each theory is only as strong as its capacity to withstand sustained critical examination of the assumptions it makes about the world.’ Written in an accessible, conversational style, and drawing on a myriad of philosophies and practices, the book can be read and enjoyed by practitioners, academics and educators at every level, including students and those contemplating psychotherapy as a career progression. It aims to represent pluralism, diversity and internationalism and to encourage continued critical reflection on psychotherapy as a practice, discipline and profession. Its content is: • philosophical, in that it deals with fundamental issues of being human, and the nature of things such as relationships and how people change. • historical with regard to some of the traditions, concepts, and discussions in psychotherapy • political, in that it addresses isues of power and social justice • reflexive, in that it encourages a critical consciousness and advocates this in terms of practice • practical, on the basis that, as Marx put it: `The philosophers have only interpreted the world... the point is to change it’, and • developmental, in that it takes the reader on a fascinating journey through becoming, being and belonging as a psychotherapist. Chapter 1 concerns the nature of being critical. Chapter 2 questions the nature of psychotherapy and its scope and purpose. Chapter 3 critiques the different elements of practice – qualities, attitudes, conditions, skills and competence. Chapter 4 examines psychotherapy theory in the context of four intellectual traditions – the Enlightenment, Romanticism, modernism and postmodernism. Chapter 5 reflects critically on two elements that support critical practice – personal therapy and supervision. Chapter 6 examines the knowledge that underpins research, both the methodology and the practice. Chapter 7 considers education and training in psychotherapy. Chapter 8 concludes with some critical reflections on psychotherapy as a discipline, as a profession, and as offering social criticism.

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This comprehensively revised and updated second edition of the 2008 classic Against and for CBT has lost none of its passion or power. Those `against' argue that CBT has been used by governments and health provider organisations to transform therapy into, at best, a quick-fix for stressed and unhappy workers (and workless), and, at worst, a form of neoliberal, state-sponsored thought reform. Those `for' CBT respond that to condemn it is to throw out an effective model that is liked by clients and has grown into compassion and meditative wisdom in its more recent modifications. For many of the contributors, the way forward lies in mutual respect between proponents of their respective modalities, and realisation that the therapy profession can only lose by engaging in these internal schisms. No single model can do everything for everyone: CBT is not the only game in town.

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Suitable for students of mental health disciplines, psychiatric service users, and carers, this book offers information that you need to make informed choices about a child's diagnosis and treatment. It offers advice on things parents can try themselves, common pitfalls to avoid, and how to find the professionals you need.

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"Beyond Fear and Control" discusses ways in which services can change the focus from managing or 'stopping' self harm to working with young people in more permissive, 'young person centred' and empowering ways. Although the need for such a change is increasingly being recognised, the practical implications and ethical dilemmas of this shift have rarely been explored. This book addresses this gap by providing in-depth descriptions of a range of innovative practices which are effective in supporting young people who self harm. People harm themselves in many ways and for many different reasons. Whilst we recognise that there is a complex relationship between self harm and suicide, this book is about supporting young people who use self harm primarily as a way of coping with distress. In this context self harm can be viewed as - the expression of, and temporary relief from overwhelming, unbearable and often conflicting emotions, thoughts or memories, through a self injurious act which they can control and regulate. Undoubtedly young people who self harm arouse strong emotional reactions in most people including fear, helplessness, confusion and anger.Responses are often based on a need to try and protect or rescue young people from danger. However, our heightened emotional response, coupled with myths and misunderstandings about both young people and self harm, can lead us to respond in ways that, rather than being empowering and helpful, can be felt as controlling and harmful.

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Since his graduation, Al Marher has had a life-long committment putting together a therapy that made sense to him. He wants to nudge the field of psychotherapy towards a revolutionary paradigm shift. This book is one such nudge.

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Aimed at anyone with a scholarly interest in psychotherapy and counseling, this substantial volume is a goldmine of essential reading.

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This is Madness examines the past, present and possible future of the British mental health system. In this volume, users of services, professionals and academics come together to explore the roles and practices of the mental health service, its place within society and the experiences of those in the system. In eighteen chapters the authors discuss the history of psychiatry, the validity of diagnostic systems and the value of traditional medical and alternative approaches to emotional distress and crisis. Recent changes in mental health legislation and their likely impact on the future shape of mental health services are presented in a way accessible to lay readers, students and mental health practitioners alike. This book will be an invaluable resource for all those involved with, or training for a career in mental health services.

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Why do not more client-centred therapists work in psychiatric settings? Whatever the answer, this book is a solid attempt to pave the way for a greater involvement. Lisbeth Sommerbeck brings over 25 years' experience of working as a client-centred therapist in psychiatric contexts to her explanation of the psychiatric system and how to forge a working relationship with other staff. This is a positive bridge-building book, aiming to bring together two helping cultures that otherwise might see each other as hostile. With diploma and masters students in sight it should both widen placement possibilities, and encourage therapists to work in multi-disciplinary teams with confidence.

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This timely book explores the interface between the Person-Centred Approach and radical political theory and activity. Specifically, it explores the contribution that a critical analysis of social and political factors can make to the practice of person-centred therapy, and to examine the contribution that person-centred theory and practice can make to the wider sphere of socio-political theory and activity. An international collection of chapters offers critical analysis of the PCA and difference and diversity; class; culture and racism; sexuality; power and feminism. Other contributions present a range of work involving social change as a necessary and sufficient condition for therapeutic personality growth; emotional literacy; sociotherapy; work with refugees and asylum seekers; peace groups; ecopolitics and spirituality." Politicising the Person-Centred Approach" is primarily aimed at practitioners and, to some extent, students, of the person-centred approach who have an interest in political issues and concerns, but will also be of interest to service users, practitioners and theorists in the field of critical psychiatry and critical psychology, who may be interested in developing the theoretical foundations of their work and expanding their theoretical and practical horizons.

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'Trauma-informed' has become a buzzword in the counselling and psychotherapy arena and the wider worlds of health and social care research and practice. But what does it mean in relation to practitioners' day-to-day work with clients? Susan Dale argues that all therapeutic work should put the client's needs, not the therapeutic model, at the heart of the process. Here she describes how she shapes her own collaborative narrative approach to work with people who have experienced trauma, whether from childhood abuse and neglect, violence, combat or other circumstances. Drawing on the literature and the first-hand accounts of trauma-experienced co-researchers, Dale weaves a narrative that demonstrates trauma-informed practice and its impact in the real-life therapy room. She includes approaches that are not formally badged as 'trauma therapies' as well as recognised models such as EMDR to demonstrate how such an approach, applied collaboratively and with acute sensitivity to the needs of the individual client, can make a lasting difference to people striving to rebuild lives that have been shattered by trauma.

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'A revolution is underway in how we think about human variation. It has the potential to transform the social and political landscape, sweeping away walls and fences that stop so many people from fully participating. Psychotherapy should be in the vanguard of this revolution, but it isn't,' writes Nick Totton in this bold analysis of human difference. His aim is to challenge and also help the reader who self-defines as 'normal'- be they talking therapist, body therapist, client or anyone else - to interrogate their own normality, and hopefully to relinquish the word and all the privileges it brings. It is time, he writes, 'to dismantle that identity, pull down that statue, abandon that high plinth and rest on the solid ground of difference'. Then, he argues, psychotherapy practitioners may be in a position to learn from their clients how best to work with them.The book addresses differences of bodily capacity, gender and lifestyle differences, differences of skin colour and neuro differences. It also tackles differences between the human and non-human beings who inhabit the Earth. Totton's call is for recognition that we share this planet, and that creating standards of 'normality' leads to exclusion as well as inclusion, with all the psychological and other harms that brings.

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Do you need your psychiatric diagnosis? This book will help you decide. In this second, updated edition of a best-selling title, Lucy Johnstone revisits the revolution that is underway in mental health. No one doubts that people’s distress is very real – but are they actually suffering from illnesses that need a diagnosis? In today’s world, where mental health is a crucial topic, this might seem an odd question. And yet even the authors of the diagnostic manuals are admitting that these categories are not supported by evidence. No one has been able to identify the ‘chemical imbalances’ that are said to cause distress. No one can reliably distinguish one ‘mental illness’ from another. And the more labels and pills we offer, the faster the increase in mental health problems. Something is badly wrong. Johnstone shows that we need to change the question from ‘What’s wrong with you?’ to ‘What’s happened to you?’ Distress, even its severe forms, arises out of our lives and relationships. Narratives and personal stories show us this truth, whereas labels obscure it. The book ends with a new, hard-hitting analysis of the political, economic and social forces that drive the diagnostic model. In our increasingly competitive, unequal and fragmented world, we are all struggling. We are told the answer lies in finding the right diagnosis. We are encouraged to talk about our ‘mental health’ instead of the conditions of our lives. And increasingly, we ourselves seek out labels which reassure us that our feelings of shame, failure and difference are not our fault. Indeed, as Johnstone shows, we are not to blame. But nor will the rapid spread of diagnostic labels provide an answer. There are better ways forward. This book is about choice. It is about demystifying one of the most influential myths of our age and giving people the information to make up their own minds. It opens up hope and new ways forward for anyone who has been given a diagnostic label.

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Cognitive behaviour therapy is arguably the most well-known, most widely used and most accessible form of talking therapy in the Western world. It has been adopted by the NHS as the mainstay of its IAPT primary care therapy programme. It converts readily and successfully into online formats and self-help programmes. In this updated introduction to CBT, three of its foremost proponents and practitioners summarise its origins, principles, how it works in practice, and the research that underpins its widespread use. This second, revised edition updates the research and includes the third and fourth ‘waves’ of cognitive behaviour approaches and other more recent developments that have emerged since the first edition was published.

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Rates of diagnosis of psychiatric disorders in children, such as depression, ADHD and autistic spectrum disorders, have shot up in recent years. So too has the prescription of antidepressant and antipsychotic drugs and stimulants. Yet the diagnoses are based on weak science, questionable research and powerful financial incentives. In this updated edition of his powerful critique, consultant child psychiatrist Sami Timimi questions why Western societies routinely seek to manage children’s behaviour with dangerous medication. He offers a humane and child-centred alternative that is about understanding our children’s distress, not medicating it, and practical advice that all parents, carers and teachers will find helpful.

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This bestselling series presents unparalleled, comprehensive descriptions of key counselling approaches in the twenty-first century. Ideal for students requiring a theory bridge between introductory, intermediate and diploma courses or focused input for comparative essays and integrative theory assignments. In The Single-Session Counselling Primer: principles and practice, Windy Dryden outlines the why, what and how of single-session counselling and the evidence that supports it. He makes a powerful case for its wider availability alongside other forms of therapy. Where it is appropriate, focused, agreed and there is the possibility of further sessions (if need dictates), it can massively increase access to talking therapies and enable clients to take their own steps to effect real change in their lives.

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Hearing voices, seeing visions and similar out-of-the-ordinary experiences have long intrigued and mystified humankind. The dominant scientific and medical understandings of these phenomena tend to problematise them. This ground-breaking book builds on the work of the Hearing Voices Movement and of the researchers Marius Romme and Sandra Escher in challenging this perception. The book is a collection of chapters by voice hearers, mental health professionals and researchers describing a myriad of therapeutic and creative approaches and strategies that people find helpful in relating to voices when they find them distressing. It is based on insights, understandings and knowledge derived from the first-hand experience of voice hearers and from mental health practice and research that show that the person's relationship with the voices and what the voices say are key to understanding and living with them; that voices are not in themselves a problem and can even be helpful; that there is a strong connection between voices and unwanted emotions; that life-long medication is not the inevitable and only treatment and, most importantly perhaps, that voice hearers can live well with their voices (even if it is sometimes hard work). The book is presented in three parts: Part one, 'Hearing our voices', includes voice hearers' perspectives as to what has helped them to recover from breakdown so that they are able to live full lives, including Hearing Voices Groups and peer support. Part two, 'Emerging social and therapeutic approaches to working with voices', explores different mainstream non-medical and psychotherapeutic approaches that help voice hearers to make sense of and live well with their voices. Part three, 'Creative approaches to working with voices', describes using creative arts, such as dance, drama and poetry, to help voice hearers relate to their voices in positive ways.

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'Talking it Better' is a practical book about the everyday practice of counselling and psychotherapy, written by a practitioner for fellow practitioners. Using case studies based on his own clients, Elton carefully examines what helps - and what hinders - the process of change in the therapy room. At the heart of therapeutic work, he argues, is the development of effective mind skills. He explains how counsellors and therapists can borrow valuable ideas from the teachers of skills such as swimming, reading music or learning to drive. And he shows us that, when it comes to developing our mind skills, practice is often far more important than insight or theory. Marie-Anne wants to manage the sergeant major in her head who keeps telling her what to do. Calum wants to learn to hear what his partner is really saying, rather than what he fears she is. Isobel wants to stop rushing to help people and then resenting them because they take her for granted. These, and the many other characters in this book, were profoundly stuck until, through 'talking it better', each found a unique path taking them closer to the self they would prefer to be.

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Robin and Joan Shohet are pioneers in supervision training for the helping professions. Much more than a manual, this book embodies the heart, soul, spirit and values of their training courses - a golden treasury of insight, wisdom and practical techniques. Its detailed descriptions of their courses apply directly to the work of the helping professions and the therapeutic relationship; what they say apply also to how we all negotiate relationships in our work and our lives. The book opens with the '23 principles' that form the basis of their beliefs about the role and function of supervision. It goes on to describe in detail five of the courses they have been running for some 40 years. These are vivid scripts taken directly from course recordings, bringing to life the interactions, exchanges and relationships played out in the training process. Here we have the Core Course, the Seven-Eyed Model, the Group Supervision Course, the Advanced Course, and the one-day workshop Fear and Love in Supervision. The book ends with a bank of resources drawn from Robin's published writings over the years. These are bold, brave, sometimes raw and always deeply honest accounts of the Shohets' inspirational supervision training - each accompanied by one of Joan's cake recipes.

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This provocative collection of essays presents a powerful critique of contemporary discourse that portrays work - paid employment - as a moral imperative, essential for our health and well-being. The contributors describe the mental health impact of modern-day workplaces, with their precarity and constant managerial scrutiny. They throw light on the emerging role of the psychologist and psychotherapist as agents of the state within the welfare system. And they question the deployment of mindfulness and other workplace `wellness' initiatives in the place of more genuine and collective attempts to transform work. The Work Cure is an invitation to imagine a different kind of future, where employment no longer represents the chief source of security and meaning, so integral to our well-being. It is also essential reading for anyone who has doubted whether positivity, self-improvement and `resilience' can really be the answer to work's problems.

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Older people rarely feature in counselling literature, and the very old barely at all. Helen Kewell seeks to address this often overlooked topic with a vibrant collection of resonant case studies describing her encounters with some of the old and very old clients with whom she has worked as a counsellor. Woven into these accounts are her personal reflections on how working with these clients has changed her and contributed to her own growth as a counsellor and as a human being. She also describes the theoretical and philosophical works that have influenced her practice - looking to humanistic, existentialist and person-centred approaches to guide her in this largely uncharted territory. Among the people described in this book, we meet Maggie, for whom death is very close and whose day-to-day experiencing is insular, private and diminished to one room and a few hours of wakefulness. We meet Kate, for whom reawakened feelings from long ago and the challenge to strongly held beliefs prove too much to face. We meet Bobby, who valiantly engages in reassessing and reconstructing his life narrative and through this finds some release, and Susan, who finds herself facing life transitions much earlier than expected and learns to transcend her circumstances and find a new way of living. And last, we meet Tom who, despite the loss of all he holds dear, manages also to transcend his circumstances and face death on his own terms. Helen's aim in this book is to use story-telling about real people living real lives to inspire others to consider this work as possible, necessary and meaningful. Who is this book for?The book will appeal to practising counsellor and psychotherapists, particularly those from humanistic traditions and specialising in bereavement and palliative care settings, and more widely to anyone - professionals and care workers alike - working with elderly people in a caring or therapeutic capacity, in the residential and nursing care sectors and the voluntary sector. It will also be of interest to trainee counsellors, general and mental health nurses, occupational therapists and GPs, and to trainers.

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This book is a groundbreaking development in modern mental health because it recognises the importance of the first hand experience and argues that hearing voices is not a sign of madness but a reaction to serious problems in life. Must-read book for all concerned with mental health issues.

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Follow-up volume to the best-selling, critically acclaimed "Person-Centred Psychopathology", "Person-Centred Practice: Case Studies in Positive Psychology" takes forward the work of the previous volume by rooting the theory of that volume in the practice of internationally renowned practitioners and scholars. The book demonstrates that person-centred theory has real depth in its ability to address the distress of challenging client groups.Case studies show how mature practitioners engage with a range of issues in psychopathology: eating disorders, post-natal and maternal distress, childhood sexual abuse, long-term depression and its existential components, issues of spirituality, psychotic functioning and loss of psychological contact. There is a focus on the first-person voice of three clients and reflections on training by a clinical psychologist. Two case studies look at the political and social aspects of therapy. There is an analysis of a previously unpublished interview with Gina by Carl Rogers, a paper on models for understanding hallucinations, and a chapter on assessment instruments which are congruent with person-centred practice.This book builds bridges between counselling theory and practice, as well as between person-centred therapy and the new and important discipline of positive psychology.

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Collected for the first time, 16 pioneering papers by the most influential theorist and practitioner in the field of cross-cultural therapy.

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The 'Our Encounters with - ' series collect together unnmediated, unsanitised narratives by service-users, past service-users and carers. These stories of direct experience will be of great benefit to those interested in narrative enquiry, and to those studying and practising in the field of mental health. The collection bring together a range of voices on the theme of suicide - those who have been suicidal, along side the friends, family and staff who have lived and worked with them. Too often the rhetoric of 'suicidology' is occupied only by those who have never had personal experience of suicidality. The first-person voice is strangely absent. These frank accounts go some way to correcting the balance. We hope that these narratives will be helpful for people who may have had similar encounters, or are harbouring future suicidal intentions, and for those who care for them personally or professionally; that readers can use the stories in the book to make better sense of their own experiences and decisions.Ultimately we hope that the book will facilitate a more empathic understanding of the experiences of others generally, and of people who were close to and have been lost to suicide.

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Offers a wide range of critical perspectives on the rise of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) from around the world and substantial responses to them. This book is suitable for psychotherapists, counsellors, students in training, and policy makers.

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Violence affects us all. There are daily reports of murders, shootings, abductions and child abuse in the media. We may be horrified and disturbed by violence but is also fascinates and intrigues us. Widely reported crimes profoundly affect the way in which we view our own humanity and leave us searching for explanations. How and why do such terrible events happen? Who are these people and what drives them to commit such appalling acts of brutality and destruction? Elie Godsi examines the lives of the perpetrators of violence and offers us ways of making sense of acts that seem beyond our comprehension. He explores the roots of violence and distress in personal experience and offers a challenging exploration of the way in which society tries to make sense of madness and badness. He is critical of current cultural and medical perspectives that exaggerate biological, genetic and psychological explanations and marginalise the contribution of brutalising social and environmental influences. He challenges us to consider a more critical and compassionate view of violence and personal distress, one that places these experiences within a global social, cultural and economic context.

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A companion volume to the best selling 'This is Madness'. At a time when there is an extraordinary energy for change in the world of mental health, 'This is Madness Too' offers a compassionate and scholarly critique of the treatment of children, government policy, the use of anit-depressants and a host of other areas fundamental to mental health services. It brings together the views of service users and professionals in a passionate attempt to tell it as it is.

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The literature of suicidology has studiously ignored those who actually experience suicidal feelings. Webb suggests this is no accident but a very deliberate exclusion of this critically important first-person knowledge. Webb rejects the medical model that claims suicide is caused by some notional mental illness, and discusses the spiritual wisdom that released him from the persistent urge to die

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A counselling qualification can open doors to a wealth of career opportunities, but there is little guidance to help newly qualified practitioners or those considering a change of pathway. In this essential guide for anyone looking to explore different arenas of practice, Rick Hughes has gathered leading practitioners to offer practical advice.

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This is a book about Covid-19 as it happened, with all the fear, horror, losses, grief, chaos, revelations, frustrations and sheer heroism. It is also a book about the future - what we learned and didn't learn; what we hoped for when the lockdowns eased and we could believe there could be a future. It is a vivid, sometimes distressing, often uplifting and powerfully moving account of a nation's journey through a nightmare, told in the words of individuals describing their own and others' experiences and how they and their families and communities coped. We hear stories from many perspectives: the bereaved; the frontline workers; those still battling the long and disabling tail of the virus; the marginalised and vulnerable; the children and young people. These are voices that are rarely heard, talking of small acts of generosity, courage, private suffering and quiet endurance. Alongside, expert commentaries draw the themes together and offer further reading and resources. So many of us swore we would learn from the pandemic. This book will help us do so.

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In this new addition to the very popular 'Straight Talking Introductions' series, two experienced psychotherapists provide a simple, factual, objective explanation of what you get when you seek therapy. Based on the latest research, this book tells you what works (and doesn't work), how it works, what you should look for from therapy and your therapist, and what to do if it isn't helping. With more than 500 different types of talking therapy on offer, mostly provided in the private sector, it can be a bewildering experience trying to find what will best help you with your problems. But therapy does work, and this essential guide will help you get the most from what it offers.

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What causes mental health problems? Nature or nurture? Brain and biology? Genetic inheritance or social environment? Revised and updated, this concise book explains what we know today about the origins of mental distress, drawing on the latest research from across the world. The answer is of course a bit of everything in combination - because the human body and brain are shaped by the environments we inhabit and what happens to us. Human distress is caused by loss, trauma, violence, childhood abuse, social injustices, poverty and deprivation. How well we are able to cope with these stressors likewise depends on a multiplicity of factors and is unique to each individual. An essential addition to the Straight Talking Introduction series, the book supports the call for more understanding of the social determinants of mental wellbeing. It adds to the arguments for treatments that do not rely on the busted hypothesis of neurochemical imbalances.

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This comprehensive workbook brings together in one handy volume a wealth of easy-to-apply CBT-based models and worksheets to help your clients move on. Maybe they're stuck in a pattern of self-harmful beliefs and behaviours that is destroying their lives, work or relationships. Maybe they're caught in a cycle of unhelpful responses to particular trigger situations and can't find a way out. Sometimes our brain just needs to be given a simple set of steps to test out, see if they work, and if they do, substitute for the old, unproductive ways of being. This workbook is for counselling, psychology and mental health practitioners, but it's also for your clients. Too often practitioners talk about clients becoming their own therapists. These worksheets give them the tools they need to do so, with and without your help.

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If psychology is seriously to address the despair and anguish that increasingly afflict us all, it needs to develop ‘outsight’. It needs to stop looking inside the head of each troubled individual that seeks its help and turn its gaze outwards. The causes of distress are not to be found in faulty or dysfunctional brains, but in the often toxic family circumstances, community settings, the workplace and the wider social world, with all its inequalities, injustices and environmental breakdown. These are the true influences on our wellbeing, argues the Midlands Psychology Group, a collective of counselling, clinical and academic psychologists who continue to find inspiration and guidance from the thinking of David Smail. In this hard-hitting challenge to their own profession, they outline their proposal for a social-materialist psychology – one that is concerned with the influences of our shared, material world and how it shapes everything we think, feel and do. For too long psychology has served the interests of the exploitative economic systems that dictate the lives of so many people in the industrialised world. Instead, it should be placing the values of compassionate solidarity at the heart of all that it does. This book seeks to inspire that shift and equip the profession to question, challenge and even change what it does.

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John Barton used to live in the non-disabled world. Then he developed symptoms of an obscure inherited condition that affected his mobility, closely followed by Parkinson’s disease. And suddenly he found himself propelled into the kingdom of the disabled. There are two worlds, he writes: ‘In one lies power, privilege and validity, in the other, the supposed lack, shame and misery of the invalids. The barriers that separate them – physical, political and psychological – diminish us all. They cripple our societies.’ This is a book not about disability but about our shared humanity. Barton takes us on a journey through history, politics, sociology, medical science and psychology, to explore the meanings of disability. Why do we, as a species, find it so hard to share our common world with people who are different from us? When you meet a disabled person in the street, socially, or in your work, do you pass the Humanity Test? Read this book. You may learn something.

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'The lives of our clients are the best they've been able to imagine. The ImageWork approach offers a wonderful invitation to learn to imagine better.' So writes Dr Dina Glouberman, author of the bestselling The Joy of Burnout, in this powerful new book about the theory and practice of ImageWork. ImageWork is the unique approach she has created and developed over 40 years that harnesses the power of the imagination to enhance original thinking, creativity, health, and spiritual discovery. This approach enables people to make creative choices and profound changes. It is used by practitioners worldwide to multiply and deepen the effectiveness of their work in a wide variety of professional settings. This is a practical, comprehensive and accessible handbook for therapists, counsellors, coaches, consultants, supervisors, spiritual directors, health professionals and every helping practitioner. It reveals the underpinning thinking and theory behind ImageWork and how it can be applied in practice. Included with the chapters are numerous scripts and visioning exercises, practice sessions, take-away points and suggestions for helpful tools and other resources to aid the practitioner. This book distils all that Dr Glouberman has learned through developing, practising and teaching this unique approach. Practitioners are also invited to apply ImageWork in their own lives, just as Dr Glouberman herself does every day - 'It's the best training of all.'

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Art Bohart is one of today’s foremost theorists and practitioners of person-centred therapy. His work has influenced generations of person-centred students and practitioners, both here in the UK and in the USA, his home country. This book brings together his personal pick from the many papers he has delivered at conferences in Europe and the USA, previously unpublished. They are, as he says in his introduction, packed with ideas that have only now found their way into print. Here, he shares his thoughts on topics including wisdom in psychotherapy, the role of empathic listening, therapy as a meeting of persons, why interventionism isn’t therapeutic, how to practise integratively from a person-centred point of view, therapist mindsets and assimilative integration, subjectivity in psychotherapy and psychology, client courage, hope, what isn’t wrong with avoidance, and the nature of the self and change. These are all issues with which person-centred therapists grapple daily, distilled by a master of his art and presented here as powerful lessons for us all.

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Multilingual clients are different from monolingual clients. So writes Beverley Costa at the start of this groundbreaking book. Other Tongues challenges counsellors and psychotherapists to consider more deeply the tool that is central to their work - namely, language. Costa argues that a profession that practises 'talking therapy' should consider more carefully the challenges and opportunities working multilingually presents. She argues that multilingualism should be a core part of the training curriculum for all counsellors and psychotherapists, and a subject for sensitive exploration with clients. She also explores the important role of interpreters in giving a voice to clients who do not speak English as a first language, and offers guidance on good practice to counsellors working with them. The book is a powerful plea to the counselling profession to acknowledge the riches clients' other languages can bring to the therapeutic relationship. To ignore multilingualism risks not only overlooking important meanings in the nuances of emotional expression but also perpetuating inequalities in access to therapy.

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