This volume describes the most current gestalt approaches to treating substance abuse and other self-medicating behaviors by a leading practitioner and scholar in the field. It is based on the gestalt view of the self-medicating dynamic as one of pattern repetition and difficulty overcoming rigid patterns of response to sensory experience and life's routine demands. The book provides a practical model for helping clients with the gamut of self-medicating behaviors-substance and alcohol abuse, overeating, gambling, overworking, rage, and others-and describes a recovery program as a system created to change one's lifestyle over time through the development of disciplines that ultimately shape one's life. The volume will also be helpful to therapists in other modalities as an alternative therapy when treating self-medicating clients, as well as a spiritual alternative to the 12-step approach. Key Features: Applies current gestalt therapy approaches to the spectrum of addictive behaviors Provides practical treatment models for self-medicating behaviors Written by a prominent practitioner and scholar of gestalt therapy Offers a spiritual alternative to the 12-step approach to recovery

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"What we wish to offer you, then, is an updated professional resource that combines both clinical and scientific perspectives. We hope this book will be helpful to professionals who are already treating addictive disorders and also to those who are just learning how to treat addictions. We also encourage health professionals more generally to think of addictions as falling within their own normal scope of work, and we have kept this in mind in our writing. In addiction treatment, it makes a difference what you do and how you do it, and it is far easier to develop evidence-based practice from the outset than to change already established habits."--Page x.

Christianity and Gestalt Therapy is a unique integration written for psychotherapists who want to better understand their Christian clients and Christian counselors who want a clinically sound approach that embraces Christian spirituality. This book explores critical concepts in phenomenology and how they relate to both gestalt therapy and Christianity. Using mixed literary forms that include poetry and story, this book provides a window into gestalt therapy for Christian counselors interested in learning how the gestalt therapeutic model can be incorporated into their beliefs and practices. It explores the tension in psychology and psychotherapy between a rigid naturalism and an enchanted take on life. A rich mix of theory, philosophy, theology, and practice, Christianity and Gestalt Therapy is an important resource for therapists working with Christian patients.

In these three volumes, a team of scholars provides a thoughtful history of abnormal psychology, demonstrating how concepts regarding disordered mental states, their causes, and their treatments developed and evolved across the ages. Compiling current thought from some of the best minds in the field, Abnormal Psychology across the Ages provides essays that reflect on multiple dimensions of abnormal behavior. These experts present biological, psychological, social, cultural, and supernatural perspectives throughout human history on a range of disorders, as well as the global influences on scientific thinking. A fascinating read for anyone in the field of abnormal psychology, from undergraduate students to clinicians, counselors, psychologists, and psychiatrists, this three-volume work addresses questions such as: What is "abnormal" psychology and thinking? What are the causes, how have we treated it, and how do we treat it now? And how does the culture of the times affect what we perceive as "abnormality"?

First published in 1974, Social Work Treatment remains the most popular and trusted compendium of theories available to social work students and practitioners. It explores the full range of theoretical approaches that drive social work treatment and knowledge development, from psychoanalysis to crisis intervention. A treasure trove of practice knowledge, the text equips professionals with a broad array of theoretical approaches, each of which shine a spotlight on a different aspect of the human condition. Emphasizing the importance of a broad-based theoretical approach to practice, it helps readers avoid the pitfalls of becoming overly identified with a narrow focus that limits their understanding of clients and their contexts. This sweeping overview of the field untangles the increasingly complex problems, ideologies, and value sets that define contemporary social work practice. The result is an essential A-to-Z reference that charts the full range of theoretical approaches available to social workers, regardless of their setting or specialty.

The third edition of Theoretical Models of Counseling and Psychotherapy provides a comprehensive overview of a variety of major counseling theories and focuses on the integration of different theoretical models. With new information on multiculturalism, diversity, and cutting-edge theories such as psychosynthesis, the book offers a detailed description of the philosophical basis for each theory as well as historical context and biographical information on each theory’s founder. Chapters include new case excerpts and clinical examples, and each chapter follows a consistent structure in its exploration of each theory’s features, including its approach to and ideas on personality development, human nature, the role of environment, the change process in therapy, and contributions and limitations to the mental health field. Theory-specific information on diagnosis, psychopharmacology, spirituality, and gender issues is also discussed, and the book is accompanied by a companion website where professors and students will find exercises and course material that will further deepen their understanding of counseling theory and allow them to easily bridge classroom study to future practice. Available for free download for each chapter: PowerPoint slides and a testbank of 21 multiple-choice questions