Cognitive Therapy of Anxiety Disorders: Science and Practice

Synopsis:

The last two decades have seen tremendous advances in understanding and treating anxiety disorders. Cognitive therapy approaches, in particular, have achieved a broad basis of empirical support. This important book synthesizes the latest knowledge in the field and presents state-of-the-science guidelines for clinical practice. The authors are leading experts, including cognitive therapy pioneer Aaron T. Beck. User-friendly features include mini-manuals for treating the five most common anxiety disorders, concise clinical pointers, vivid case examples, and over three dozen reproducible handouts and forms.

Combining scholarly depth and comprehensiveness with practical utility, this is an essential reference for mental health practitioners and researchers of all stripes. It is an invaluable text for graduate-level seminars and clinical practice in clinical psychology, psychiatry, counseling, and social work.

Description:

Part I updates and reformulates the influential model of anxiety disorders that Beck and colleagues first proposed in 1985. The authors illuminate the many facets of maladaptive anxiety and the role of cognition in its development and maintenance. Hundreds of empirical studies testing the model's hypotheses are succinctly reviewed.

Building on these foundations, Part II details core clinical strategies that are transdiagnostic in scope-effective and relevant for any type of anxious symptom presentation. This section describes step by step how to conduct thorough assessments, formulate individual cases, and implement cognitive restructuring and behavioral interventions.

Part III delves more closely into specific, frequently encountered disorders: panic disorder, social phobia, generalized anxiety disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and posttraumatic stress disorder. Disorder-specific data, conceptualizations, and treatment protocols give the clinician powerful tools for meeting each patient's needs.