'Brief therapy' doesn't mean the same thing to all therapists. This thorough discussion of the factors that contribute to effectiveness in therapy carefully integrates key elements from diverse theoretical viewpoints.

Brief Therapy with Couples is a practical guide to brief therapy for couples & relationship problems, that relates therapy to the cultural, racial, & religious context of relationships, as well as key issues like parenting & same-sex relationships.

An integrative approach to play therapy blending various therapeutic treatment models and techniques Reflecting the transition in the field of play therapy from a “one size fits all” approach to a more eclectic framework that integrates more than one perspective, Integrative Play Therapy explores methods for blending the best theories and treatment techniques to resolve the most common psychological disorders of childhood. Edited by internationally renowned leaders in the field, this book is the first of its kind to look at the use of a multi-theoretical framework as a foundation for practice. With discussion of integrative play treatment of children presenting a wide variety of problems and disorders—including aggression issues, the effects of trauma, ADHD, anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorders, social skills deficits, medical issues such as HIV/AIDS, and more—the book provides guidance on: Play and group therapy approaches Child-directed play therapy with behavior management training for parents Therapist-led and child-led play therapies Cognitive-behavioral therapy with therapeutic storytelling and play therapy Family therapy and play therapy Bibliotherapy within play therapy An essential resource for all mental health professionals looking to incorporate play therapy into treatment, Integrative Play Therapy reveals unique flexibility in integrating theory and techniques, allowing practitioners to offer their clients the best treatment for specific presenting problems.

What is integrative psychotherapy? How effective is the integrative approach to therapy? And what are its limitations? Answering these and other significant questions, this insightful volume provides the working clinician with a practical guide to using an integrative approach to psychotherapy. Erskine and Moursund, both experienced psychotherapists, begin their discussion with a masterful theoretical overview which integrates diverse concepts from various therapy techniques such as psychoanalysis, client-centred therapy, and Gestalt therapy. The authors then use transcripts of actual therapeutic sessions (with explanatory comments interjected) to provide the reader with a broader understanding of both theory and its application in therapy - and to capture some of the elusive essence of the ongoing therapy interview. Unique in its attention to detail, as well as to the therapist's own decision-making process, advanced students and therapists alike will find this volume an invaluable resource.

TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. History of Brief Counseling: The Fly Bottle. 2. Facilitating Change: The One Constant. 3. The Centrality of the Counseling Relationship: No Magic Tricks. 4. Helping Clients Frame Goals: The Pull of the Future. 5. Constructivist Counseling: Inventing Realities. 6. Narrative Counseling: Clients' Lives as Stories. 7. Managing the Clients' Emotional Arousal: Hot-Wiring. 8. Using Mystifying Techniques: Turning Stumbling Blocks into Stepping Stones. 9. Chaos and Complexity in Counseling: Butterflies and Loaded Dice. 10. The Reflecting Team, Consulting Break, and Offering Suggestions. 11. The Brief Attitudes, the Second Session, and Beyond. 12. Dealing with Involuntaries and Revisiting the First Session.

In Psychotherapy Integration, George Stricker discusses the history, theory, and practice of this approach to therapy. Although no single therapeutic model claims a majority of practitioners, the most frequently endorsed approach is integrative or eclectic therapy. This attests to the reality of modern psychotherapy practice, which is that almost every therapist uses, at least in part, psychotherapy integration. Psychotherapy integration looks beyond the confines of single-school approaches to see what can be learned and incorporated from other perspectives. Integration involves not only taking techniques from other models and applying them in different approaches - something usually categorized as eclecticism - but also attending to the relationship between technique and theory. This brief introduction describes the full range of psychotherapy integration models, including the common factors approach, technical integration, theoretical integration, and assimilative integration, with a particular focus on the last approach. In this book, the author presents and explores psychotherapy integration, its theory, history, the therapy process, primary change mechanisms, empirical basis, and future developments. This essential primer, amply illustrated with case examples featuring diverse clients, is perfect for graduate students studying theories of therapy and counseling as well as for seasoned practitioners interested in understanding this approach. It is part of the ""Theories of Psychotherapy"".

This one-of-a-kind textbook emphasizes integrative interviewing and brief therapy approaches. It also includes a multitude of counselor-client dialogues that demonstrate successful, tried-and-true strategies. In order to make learning more effective for students, the book contains a gradient that presents strategies progressing from simple to complex.