This book is important reading, as it competently deals with the treatment of a major health issue which is both prevalent and chronic, with strong co-morbidity. While the tone didn't particularly engage me, I did finish the book with some insights and solid understanding.

Tags: cbt, PTSD, trauma

The basic conceptualisation of human experience offered by this book is that distress arises from our relationship with our own internal experience. The remedy goes beyond (and could be seen as contrary to) the traditional cognitive therapy approach of disentangling the client from the thoughts, questioning them and replacing them with more realistic and helpful ones.

Tags: acceptance, cbt, mindfulness, Research

Seemingly aimed both at students and at internet-illiterates, this book provides fairly comprehensive coverage of the history and development of online counseling. As a practical guide or handbook, however, it lacks depth.

Tags: online therapy

Written by four luminaries of the mindfulness movement in psychotherapy and counselling, The Mindful Way through Depression is a self-help book in the best sense of the term, and you don't need to suffer from depression to find it useful.

Tags: cbt, depression, mindfulness, philosophy, Research

This book is a good ready-to-go manual for the new or busy coach looking for new ideas or reinforcement of practice enthusiasm. Whether it lives up to its promise of providing lasting solutions is something that only time and longitudinal research studies can tell.

Tags: Coaching, therapy

At a time when Complementary and Alternative Therapies have (again) been under fire from some university scientists for falsely claiming scientific status, and in an era of evidence-based psychotherapy, this book is a key text. It should have a place on all postgraduate counselling and psychotherapy courses, but I suspect it will not be so readily accommodated.

Tags: effectiveness, Psychology, Research, therapy

If you're not familiar with — or even wary of — brief or time-limited approaches to counselling, this book provides a comprehensive introduction that could challenge your way of thinking. The whole theory behind brief therapy is in fact an incentive to be present, to check everything out with the client, not to let things slide, hoping that they will come up later. The time is now!

Tags: therapy

Aimed at therapists and those in "helping professions" looking at making the crossover to work in life coaching, this book puts across the essence of this relatively new profession very effectively. For those who have made the decision to move to life coaching, it will be a support and inspiration. But does life coaching really offer anything different from core counselling principles like empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard?

Tags: Coaching, Person-Centred, philosophy, therapy

This book achieves what it sets out to do: "to introduce readers to the rich tapestry of existential therapeutic approaches". I found it concise and easy to read, despite the fact that it deals with some fairly complex ideas. I found much in Mick Cooper's book of interest and have found myself using some of the therapeutic interventions he describes, with my own clients.

Tags: existentialism, introduction, philosophy, therapy

This is an impressive and very wide ranging introduction to the Person Centred Approach. It not only introduces the approach but adds new dimensions to the theory and new extensions of it into practice, reaching well beyond the counselling room walls.

Tags: Development & Supervision, introduction, Person-Centred, Rogers, therapy, Training, Development & Supervision