Review of Helping Bereaved Children, Second Edition: A Handbook for Practitioners.

Reviews the book, Helping Bereaved Children, Second Edition: A Handbook for Practitioners edited by Nancy Boyd Webb (see record 2002-02276-000). When health policy decision-makers understand the greater societal benefits of providing evidence-based bereavement support to children and adolescents, our country will have coordinated, accessible, and comprehensive Loss Support programs for every family member. Until then, we are fortunate to have this guide to educate us on how to best support our most vulnerable family members when someone loved dies. Although the title specifically targets practitioners, I believe that the plain language and holistic approach would assist parents and other adults in supporting these children and teens. I am pleased to endorse this book as an excellent resource for professionals and lay people alike as we all strive to ensure that our children receive the best support for the grief they experience in their young lives. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Helping students succeed in the regular classroom: A guide for developing intervention assistance programs.

Reviews the book, Helping students succeed in the regular classroom: A guide for developing intervention assistance programs by Joseph E. Zins, Michael J. Curtis, Janet L. Graden, and Charlene R. Ponti (see record 1988-97800-000). The goal of this book is to provide sufficient detail to enable practitioners to make intervention assistance programs integral components of their current educational systems. Authored by four of the field's leading scholars and practitioners in the area of prereferral intervention, the book clearly succeeds in achieving these goals and, hopefully, in helping to stave off the "bandwagon" mentality that could easily engulf the new service delivery models that are appearing nationwide. Helping Students Succeed in the Regular Classroom begins at a conceptual level by examining the rationale, logic and need for intervention assistance programs. Reflecting the best of contemporary thinking in this area, the authors' arguments for alternatives to traditional special education services are sound and convincing. Moving beyond merely critiquing the mistakes of traditional service delivery models, the book rapidly builds a solid theoretical framework from which innovative solutions to old and persistent problems can be developed. Complementing the conceptual and theoretical elements of the book is a broad-ranging overview of pragmatic, "how to" information for the practitioner. If Helping Students Succeed in the Regular Classroom has a shortcoming, it is that some of these practice-oriented chapters suffer from trying to cover too much material in too little space. For example, while the authors acknowledge the critical nature of obtaining sanction and support at the district level for intervention assistance programs, they devote less than one page to this extremely complex topic. Overall, I recommend this book to the readership of School Psychology Quarterly with great enthusiasm. It addresses topics of critical importance to our field, and does so in a well-reasoned, scholarly and practical manner. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Helping the noncompliant child: Family-based treatment for oppositional behavior (2nd ed.).

Reviews the book, Helping the noncompliant child: Family-based treatment for oppositional behavior (2nd ed.) by R. J. McMahon and R. L. Forehand (see record 2004-00004-000). Positive outcomes of parent training programs have been well documented in the literature (Lonigan, Elbert, & Johnson, 1998). These programs are often recommended for young children exhibiting disruptive behaviors (Kazdin, 1997). The efficacy of parent training programs for families who are able to complete treatment is documented for both short-term and long-term goals (Brestan & Eyberg, 1998; Lonigan et al., 1998). Helping the Noncompliant Child: Family-Based Treatment for Oppositional Behavior is the second edition of a successful parent training program that promises to deliver results similar to those of the earlier program. In their book, McMahon and Forehand present an intervention treatment program designed for children ages 3 to 8 years who present as "excessively noncompliant." The treatment program is based on the premise that "the child's noncompliant, inappropriate behavior is shaped and maintained through maladaptive patterns of family interaction, which reinforce coercive behaviors" (p. 28). McMahon and Forehand's HNC program provides parents with a specific and practical way to get out of the coercive cycle of negative interactions by using attention and rewards, ignoring negative behaviors, and giving clear instructions. The program falls short when it uses essentially the same time-out procedure for noncompliance for children between the ages of 3 and 8 and regardless of the function or reason for the noncompliance. To intervene effectively with a child, all of the issues at hand must be taken into consideration. In severe cases, the time-out procedure recommended could actually increase conflict between the parent and the child should the child not comply, resulting in family drop out or the need to modify the adjunctive individual therapies. Preparing parents for these exceptions and possible need for modifying the program by clarifying the populations who have been successful and unsuccessful in parent training programs would be a good addition to the book. This book can only be recommended for use with families for whom a thorough evaluation has determined that the child's noncompliant behaviors are a function of coercive family interactions consisting of unclear parenting messages. The child must evidence the ability to participate effectively in the time-out procedure. The child and family must clearly fit into the population shown to benefit from parent training programs. For these families, the HNC program may decrease noncompliant behaviors. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Helping: Origins and development of the major psychotherapies.

Reviews the book, Helping: Origins and Development of the Major Psychotherapies by David R. Cole (1982). This is an unusual introductory text on two counts. It is different from most other introductions to counselling and therapy both in the breadth of the perspective it takes on the helping profession and in the depth with which it reviews the theoretical underpinnings of the humanistic view that it offers. In terms of its breadth, it provides an excellent introduction to human behaviour and the helping process in the first chapter and in the next three chapters provides the reader with an overview of the three major helping disciplines: psychiatry, psychology, and social work. In terms of depth, the author does a good job of presenting an introductory discussion of issues underlying a number of the theories reviewed. Although the book is subtitled Origins and Development of the Major Psychotherapies, it does not cover all major theories in the field but rather has a distinctive humanistic flavour. This perspective strongly colours the way in which the material is presented and leads to what many would regard as a slightly unbalanced presentation of the disciplines. In general, the book presents a very good summary of the six theories it covers under experiential and cognitive headings, paying attention to the subtleties of the approaches as well as the generalities. The book would be most useful in any introductory course on helping. It would be useful too in any course in education or any management training course in which an understanding of human relations or "personnel" concerns is required. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Children with lesbian parents: A community study.

Existing research on children with lesbian parents is limited by reliance on volunteer or convenience samples. The present study examined the quality of parent-child relationships and the socioemotional and gender development of a community sample of 7-year-old children with lesbian parents. Families were recruited through the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, a geographic population study of 14,000 mothers and their children. Thirty-nine lesbian-mother families, 74 two-parent heterosexual families, and 60 families headed by single heterosexual mothers were compared on standardized interview and questionnaire measures administered to mothers, co-mothers/fathers, children, and teachers. Findings are in line with those of earlier investigations showing positive mother-child relationships and well-adjusted children. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Techniques of successful foremanship.

Reviews the book Techniques of successful foremanship by Theodore R. Lindbom (1953). This is the report of a study undertaken for the purpose of gaining an understanding of the techniques or traits characteristic of successful foremen prior to undertaking a supervisory training program. The "Jennings Supervisory Analysis," a 23-item questionnaire, was administered to 1,682 workers and their 52 foremen in a large midwestern plant. The findings of the questionnaire are presented. The reviewer notes that although this report presents objective evidence on desirable foreman characteristics, it is doubtful whether the author's hope that the findings "can be used to both clarify the objectives and to increase the effectiveness of foreman training programs" will be realized by persons who turn to this report with that same hope in mind. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Psychotherapy Relationships That Work: Therapist Contributions and Responsiveness to Patients.

Reviews the book, Psychotherapy Relationships That Work: Therapist Contributions and Responsiveness to Patients edited by John C. Norcross (see record 2003-02805-000). As quoted from the fly leaf, "the work represents the culmination of three years of systematic analysis by the APA's Division of Psychotherapy (29) Task Force on Empirically Supported Therapy Relationships." Clearly, the task force was appointed in part--and acknowledged in the Introduction--as a response to the Society of Clinical Psychology's (12) Task Force on Empirically Validated Therapies (see Chambless & Hollon, 1998), which emphasized techniques in therapy. Norcross, the chair of the Division 29 Task Force and editor of this volume, discusses the inevitable questions regarding the differences between the goals of the two task forces. He views the current work as an extension and enlargement of the "attempt to apply psychological science to the identification and promulgation of effective psychotherapy." The 21 substantive chapters of the book are written by distinguished researchers of the therapeutic process. Fifty-five authors contributed to the volume. The chapters cover a wide-ranging and diverse field of topics including empathy, resistance, feedback, repairing alliance ruptures, countertransference, self-disclosure, religion and spirituality, and cultural diversity. The organization of the contents is of interest, as they are divided into General Elements of the Relationship and Customizing the Relationship to the Individual Patient. The choice of which chapters fit the categories appears somewhat arbitrary and perhaps forced. But the import of the volume is the thoroughness that the authors have brought to their particular topics. The book contains a number of resource gems, such as tables of references on outcome as related to resistance, interpretation, and therapist positive regard. That said, the book is not without some weaknesses. There is a dearth of reports of case studies, and cases that are presented are scattered sparsely throughout the text. The research must necessarily continue in order to provide a better understanding of interpersonal relationships within the context of psychotherapy. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Between women: Lowering the barrier.

Reviews the book, Between Women: Lowering The Barriers by Paula J. Caplan (1981). Caplan adds to the growing body of works on the psychological and sociological development of women. She presents as myths the pervasive ideas that females are inferior to males, endlessly nurturant, emotionally dependent, instinctively tidy, and physically graceful. She does so in a readable manner and uses her arguments about female socialization to convince the reader that prevention and change of social patterns are possible. Caplan is optimistic and hopeful, and she inspires the reader to investigate what is, in order to create, what could be. With a focus on the daughter, Caplan explores the generic female experience by organizing the body of her work from girlhood through adolescence to adulthood. Thus, she restores to women the whole life cycle. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of A tired woman's guide to passionate sex: Reclaim your desire and reignite your relationship.

Reviews the book, A tired woman's guide to passionate sex: Reclaim your desire and reignite your relationship by Laurie B. Mintz (2009). Statistics bear it out: The most common sexual complaint that women have is low desire, and the most common reason that women cite is being too tired for sex. A tired woman’s guide is a thorough, research-based, cognitive– behavioral self-help program to help women not only revive their interest in sex but also be more assertive and take more time for self-care, which is sorely absent in the contemporary lives of women. Because the author has taken care to eliminate the crass language that is sometimes found in popular books about sexuality, it is a book that a psychotherapist or health care provider could easily recommend without fear of offending a female client of any age. The book is organized into nine chapters and is written in a professional and friendly manner that will appeal to the lay reader. Although the purpose of the book is to educate and motivate a lay audience, the book would be improved by having specific references to research included so that a psychotherapist unacquainted with the research in the field of female sexual health would be able to do further reading or research on the topic. Even a brief list of references to major studies would be preferable to none at all. Second, the book lays the blame for being “too tired” squarely on the woman’s shoulders. Much is made of the woman’s task of helping her partner understand how she feels and what she wants. Although this is a good ideal, it assumes that the male partner is receptive to feedback or will make the requested changes. Although the author recommends pornography made for women by a woman, it may still be a potential turnoff for some readers. Clinicians need to be prepared for a potential exploration of the topic should they recommend the book. Still, A tired woman’s guide to passionate sex is better than many books on the topic. Perhaps because Mintz is brave enough to admit to her readers that she, herself, was a woman too tired for sex at one time and needed to go on her own journey to recover her lost libido, the book works as an empathic companion to the woman who is puzzled by her own lack of drive. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Cocaine: A clinician's handbook.

Reviews the book, Cocaine: A clinician's handbook edited by Arnold M. Washton and Mark S. Gold (see record 1987-98183-000). Washton and Gold point out that the goal of this text is to provide "clinicians with information that is directly relevant to the treatment of cocaine abusers." I feel they accomplished their goal, by concentrating on various aspects of theory, research, and treatment of cocaine abuse. The book is divided into three major sections: Basic and Biomedical Issues, Treatment Approaches, and Special Topics. Overall, this text examines a range of topics. This book can be extremely valuable to physicians, psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, counselors in the drug and alcohol fields, and students. The book is comprehensive in what it covers and well organized. Even experienced professionals in this field will be hard pressed to find flaws with this resource. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Home and Hospital Psychiatric Treatment.

Reviews the book, Home and Hospital Psychiatric Treatment by Fred R. Fenton, Lise Tessier, E. L. Struening, Frank A. Smith and Constance Benoit (1982). From 1972 to 1976, Fenton and his associates were involved in a study at the Montreal General Hospital's Department of Psychiatry that sought to compare a home-based psychiatric treatment program with a more traditional inpatient service. Their monograph presents the rationale for the study, describes the methodology employed, presents their findings and conclusions and discusses issues related to home-based treatment programs and their evaluation. From a methodological point of view, the study is not without its flaws. It does however represent an example of good research in a difficult (real world) setting. The study is well documented and findings are presented in a logical and comprehensible fashion. Its length and detail make it suitable for use as a case study in a class dealing with methodology or evaluation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Reveiw of Helping Couples Change: A Social Learning Approach to Marital Therapy.

Reviews the book, Helping Couples Change: A Social Learning Approach to Marital Therapy by Richard B. Stuart (1980). Helping Couples Change describes in detail a well thought out, structured, systematic, strategic therapy based on social learning theory. Dr. Stuart thoroughly outlines the development of this approach and documents where he has incorporated thoughts from other schools (notably the communication theory of Haley, Watzlawick, et al.). He then goes on to present a concise, scientific, and pragmatic rationale for his approach to marital treatment which includes what to do from the time that the clients first contact your office through to follow-up evaluation. The treatment approach is outlined in enough detail to allow for easy replication by the practitioner, with vignettes used to illustrate all of the methods and techniques discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Handbook of clinical behavior therapy with children.

Reviews the book, Handbook of clinical behavior therapy with children edited by Phillip H. Bornstein and Alan E. Kazdin. Bornstein & Kazdin have made a major contribution to clinical psychology by attempting to integrate the latest of behavioral therapies with psychiatric diagnoses. Their stated purposes in producing the edited work are to 1) comprehensively present the current behavioral approaches to treatment with children; 2) critically survey the relevant research; and 3) cover a very wide range of clinical problems. The end product is a work which will be extremely valuable for advanced students of psychology and related disciplines, but it may be of limited use for therapists looking for practical solutions. It reads like a textbook; and, as such, is comprehensive. Nevertheless, for the naive or new professional, there are implicit assumptions about psychiatric diagnoses which could be misleading. In general, the scope of the work is comprehensive and the text is well organized. It should be required reading for clinical students. Yet for those who will actually practice, it should serve as only a starting point, from which the practitioner will have to 1) use creativity in applying results of current research to practical problems; 2) supplement reading with samples of the original research cited as well as more applied works; and 3) be aware of the many conceptual and practical pitfalls of buying into a set of discrete categories with which to view complex individuals and situations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Neuroeconomics: A Guide to the New Science of Making Choices.

Reviews the book, Neuroeconomics: A Guide to the New Science of Making Choices by Peter Politser (see record 2008-02138-000). Beyond merely trying to explain neuroeconomics and providing a review of recent studies, Politser’s book aims to establish a neuroepidemiological framework, which identifies neurobiological levels of analysis for the decision-making process. The motivation for the book stems from Politser’s concern that neuroeconomic research was developing without a unifying framework to allow for a cohesive understanding of the key concepts, constructs, models and methods. Politser argues succinctly and forcefully for a framework that integrates both economic and behavioral models to create a comprehensive view of neuroeconomic decision-making. This book is not necessarily for those seeking an introduction to neuroeconomics or looking for a comprehensive review of the literature. Politser offers his fellow researchers a treatise that strives to bridge the theoretical gap between neoclassical economic theory, decision theory, and neuroscience. As a result, Neuroeconomics is written in a style that is not only dense but also terse. The ideas contained in the book are thought-provoking and compelling, especially for those who are currently working in the field and understand the need for a more rigorous theoretical framework upon which future neuroeconomic research can be organized. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Review of Pediatric and adolescent behavioral medicine: Issues in treatment.

Reviews the book, Pediatric and Adolescent Behavioral Medicine: Issues in Treatment edited by Patrick J. McGrath and Philip Firestone (1983). With recent advances in behavioural medicine more generally, paediatric behavioural medicine has been expanding rapidly during the last decade. At this time, it seems most opportune to integrate notions from psychological and developmental models of treatment with medical treatment models, practice, and services. This book covers a number of childhood and adolescent disorders, including abdominal pain syndrome, asthma, elevated blood pressure, cigarette smoking, and obesity. The issues raised in this edited volume cover a number of important difficulties in the behavioural paediatrics area. Psychologists and other professionals working with difficulties associated with treating paediatric problems in well-child health care facilities will find it very useful. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Discovering the moments of movement in filial therapy: A single case qualitative study.

This study examines the process of change in filial therapy, a type of play therapy, which engages parents as therapeutic agents in working with troubled children. Outcome studies have supported the efficacy of this approach in building parent-child relationships, reducing parenting stress, and reducing child behavior problems. The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine the process in order to understand how these changes occur. The researchers compare the viewpoints of the therapist, the parents, and an independent observer, noting the points in therapy which are deemed facilitative or inhibitive of change. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)