The Case Formulation Approach to Cognitive-Behavior Therapy
By Jacqueline B. Persons, PhD
978-1-59385-875-9, $35.00 Hardcover
Pub Date: September 2008

This eagerly awaited book shows how skillful case formulation addresses a critical challenge in psychotherapy today: how to use empirically supported therapies (ESTs) in real-world clinical contexts. The author explains the basic theories of cognition, learning, and emotion that underlie available ESTs and shows how the theories also guide systematic case formulation. By crafting a sound formulation and continually refining and monitoring it as treatment progresses, the therapist can smoothly "shift theoretical gears" and weave together elements of different ESTs to meet the needs of individual patients, who typically present with multiple problems. Hands-on tools, reproducibles, and many concrete examples are included.

"This excellent book describes treatment formulation and the therapeutic process well, from a cognitive-behavioral framework. The reproducible forms are extremely helpful, especially for new therapists who are beginning a private practice. All-in-all, the author helps us to look at the therapeutic process in cognitive-behavioral terms and design it with each specific client in mind, and not in terms of a general protocol. This is very refreshing, to say the least....4 stars!"

"Persons's insights into case formulation are second to none. This book brilliantly demonstrates that you don't have to sacrifice good science to be an excellent clinician, and vice versa. I recommend it to psychotherapists and students at all levels of experience who are interested in using the best theories and clinical techniques to help their patients achieve real and lasting change. Persons's rare combination of clinical practicality and scientific dedication makes her a role model for every young scientist-clinician."

"This groundbreaking volume will train the next generation of cognitive-behavioral therapists. Its sophisticated blending of case-level formulation with empirical principles of behavior change is a threshold event in CBT's ongoing engagement with clinical complexity, comorbidity, and nonadherence."

"Decades of research and clinical experience meet in this seminal book. Persons provides a guide for both the novice and experienced practitioner to deal with even the most complex of cases. This significant work will no doubt become the shining light by which the idiographic approach to CBT will be guided in the future. One of the few books that is worth even more than the purchase price!"

"There is no greater challenge facing mental health professionals than moving from scientific theory and research to clinical practice. Persons has addressed this critical issue for many years, and has come up with solutions that demand the attention of serious health professionals. She convincingly shows how to analyze complex cases in ways that are both scientifically sound and practically feasible and effective. Persons is the consummate scientist-practitioner. This book is a 'must read' for students, academics, and practitioners."

My Anxious Mind: A Teen's Guide to Managing Anxiety and Panic
by Michael A. Tompkins and Katherine Martinez
Magination Press (2009)

Anxiety can make everything seem unmanageable - from dealing with family and friends to managing schoolwork and extracurricular activities. It's been estimated that between nine and 15 million teens in the United States suffer from phobias, panic attacks, or extreme worry or anxiety. That's a lot of teens!

"My Anxious Mind" helps teens take control of their anxious feelings by providing cognitive - behavioral strategies to tackle anxiety head-on and to feel more confident and empowered in the process. "My Anxious Mind" also offers ways for teens with anxiety to improve their inter-personal skills, whether it be with friends, family, or teachers; manage stress; handle panic attacks; use diet and exercise appropriately; and decide whether medication is right for them.

"The strategies discussed in 'My Anxious Mind' are firmly grounded in the latest research on treating anxiety. At the same time, the book is highly accessible, engaging, and easy to follow. I highly recommend 'My Anxious Mind' to any teen who struggles with high levels of anxiety. Their parents should read it too!"

"'My Anxious Mind' is a terrific book--but not just for teens! It contains easy-to-understand information and practical, straight-forward steps anyone can take to reduce undue anxiety. It's a must read for anxious teens, their parents and teachers but will be helpful to individuals of any age who have an 'anxious mind.'"

"This wonderful book is a must-buy for adolescents and their families with severe anxiety. Its two voices--the recently affected adolescent and the experienced clinician--offer invaluable insights into the potentially devastating effects of untreated anxiety while describing in detail proven strategies for taking charge of fears and obsessions".

"Up to one in five teens suffer from a significant anxiety disorder while countless others experience milder fears and worries. Tompkins and Martinez offer a step-by-step guide to anxiety management written specifically for adolescents. Along with proven techniques for dealing with anxious thoughts, physical symptoms of anxiety, and avoidance behaviors, this valuable book also addresses the important areas of sleep, nutrition, and exercise.

"My Anxious Mind: A Teen’s Guide to Managing Anxiety, is a marvelous book for teens who feel anxious or shy sometimes, like all of us, or find that anxiety or shyness is becoming too frequent and too painful. If anxiety is interfering with making friends, doing what they want to, asserting themselves, or asking for help, this is the book for them. Michael Tompkins and Katherine Martinez have written this guide with precision and clarity, while communicating warmth to their young readers, and a real understanding of the challenges of the teen-age years. This is a book we all might have found helpful as kids. How great to have had a personal guide to handling our adolescent worries, our thoughts about what looked like impending social disasters; and to solving the inevitable interpersonal problems and challenges of dealing with those we loved, liked, couldn’t stand, and learned to like, as we knew them better. I liked the examples of teens describing problems that troubled them. These problems are human and universal, but when anxiety gets too intense, the authors show how anxiety and avoidance can be reduced and one’s behavior changed. I also liked the visual images, like the worry wheel. The diagrams and homework sheets are clear and helpful. Teens can all learn from these authors’ experience and wisdom".

Digging Out: Helping Your Loved One Manage Clutter, Hoarding, and Compulsive Acquiring
by Michael A. Tompkins and Tamara L. Hartl
New Harbinger Press (2009)

If you have a friend or family member who acquires an excessive amount of stuff (newspapers, old scraps of cloth, unworn clothes), has difficulty discarding things, lives in a cluttered space, and whose life is impaired by all of this stuff, it's likely that he or she is a hoarder. People who hoard often live in unsafe and unsanitary conditions because they are unable to throw anything away. Although hoarding negatively affects their quality of life, social relationships, and safety, people who hoard are often unwilling to end their behavior.

Digging Out is the first book to help friends and family members keep their loved ones safe from the dangers of compulsive acquiring. Using a technique called harm reduction, which aims to reduce safety risk rather than force a hoarder to discard possessions, readers will be able to set small, achievable goals for their loved ones. The realistic exercises in the book focus on helping a loved one live safely and comfortably at home. Readers will work together with hoarders to set valid and meaningful goals and incentive to work toward them.

Because it can be difficult to maintain a positive relationship with a person who compulsively hoards, readers will learn to take the focus off of that behavior and concentrate instead on the qualities they enjoy about the person. The book also includes advice for roommates and romantic partners who live with hoarders, and engaging case stories from hoarders and their loved ones.

"An essential guide for loved ones of those who compulsively hoard. Digging Out takes a compassionate approach to both the hoarder and family member's perspective and offers practical tools that really work to reduce harm associated with clutter and improve family relationships".

"This excellent book is a boon to people that hoard, their families, and mental health professionals. It provides a clear method -- "harm reduction" -- that has been proven effective in reducing the dangerous consequences of hoarding, while promoting positive relationships between the hoarder and their loved ones. The authors are to be commended for the benefits offered by Digging Out to the many people who have to cope with this disabling disorder".

"If your loved one has a problem with compulsive saving, this book can help you both save what really counts: yourselves! With equal parts compassion, wisdom, and practicality, Michael Tompkins and Tamara Hartl offer step-by-step instructions for helping family members and friends with hoarding challenges. The authors' passion for their work comes through on every page, and their extensive experience is evident in every nugget of advice they offer".

"Undoubtedly, Digging Out is one of the best available texts for assisting the families of those suffering from Hoarding and Cluttering declutter and help their loved ones live in a healthy environment. The authors Michael Tompkins and Tamara Hartl provide a systematic approach to understanding the problem of hoarding and cluttering that will equally be useful for other service providers such as Public Health Inspectors involved with code enforcement, Social Workers and Adult Protective Services who work with clients especially in our Single Room Occupancy Hotels and Shelters in San Francisco. I highly recommend the book for all who work with or may come across people struggling with hoarding and cluttering in their respective job functions".

"Digging Out is a wonderful book for those who have family members or other loved ones with compulsive hoarding and cluttering problems. It provides a practical, realistic, in-depth, and empathic approach for helping to manage this serious and often debilitating problem using harm-reduction techniques. This book manages that most difficult of combinations—to provide hope and guidance without minimizing the potential obstacles to success".