| Abstract: | Reviews the book, Group exercises for adolescents: A manual for therapists by Susan Carrell (see record 1993-98929-000). Practitioners who dare venture into the bewildering, unpredictable realm of group psychotherapy with adolescents likely will find Carrell's Group Exercises for Adolescents to be a wonderful navigational aid. While the bulk of the book contains 25 group exercises, two useful overview chapters precede the application section. A brief opening chapter offers some developmental highlights of adolescence, while the second chapter provides a Cook's tour of practical suggestions and recommendations for conducting adolescent groups. The latter is a superb introduction to the problems and prospects of group work with this challenging population, and it can almost stand alone as a primer for less experienced practitioners who are approaching the group leadership role with an adolescent group for the first time. More experienced leaders, however, will not be bored. While limited in scope, Carrell's Manual covers well its intended content. The book is well-written and carefully organized, and brings great clarity to each area examined, benefiting greatly from a distinct lack of jargon. A spiral binding facilitates use. While the workbook foregoes a scholarly base, its strength resides in pragmatism. These are methods that have worked well for the author, and which have survived the critical appraisal of a pool of over 300 teen clients who rated the exercises for effectiveness. The book is recommended highly as a valuable resource for therapists of any discipline who facilitate psychotherapy groups for adolescents. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
