Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Click on Images to Enlarge

Click on Images to Enlarge


Saturday, September 19, 2009

When Panic Attacks

With one out of four Americans suffering from unhealthy anxiety, it is no surprise that several clients are affected with issues such as being anxious, worried, nervous, afraid, or uptight. The good news is Dr. David Burns, a renowned psychotherapist, has developed an arsenal of clinically proven techniques for calming fears holistically and without drugs.

When Panic Attacks teaches how to use more than 40 simple, effective techniques to combat any kind of anxiety. It covers the latest research on drugs commonly prescribed for anxiety and depression and also points out why they may sometimes do more harm than good.

Based on principles of cognitive behavior therapy, When Panic Attacks shows how to unravel the lies client's tell themselves that can cause them to be afraid. The simple, easy-to-use techniques in Dr. Burns' Anxiety Toolkit take less than 60 seconds to work, which can help clients to identify the triggers, analyze the situation, figure out what they can learn from it, and move on.

This guide includes:
• antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications
• common Self-Defeating Beliefs (SDB) such as performance perfectionism, approval addiction, conflict phobia, and more
• a cost-benefit analysis that reviews the advantages and disadvantages of one’s SDB

It goes over questions such as: Why are some people so vulnerable to painful mood swings, while others seem to be naturally happy? What explains the timing of episodes of depression, anxiety, or anger and what triggers these problems in the first place?

Written with compassion and humor, Dr. Burns' latest hands-on guide is an indispensable resource for mental health professionals to present clients with strategies to conquer situations such as sleepless nights fretting over a plane trip, a public speaking engagement, or the safety of a loved one.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

The Therapist's Guide to Psychopharmacology

The Therapist's Guide to Psychopharmacology offers top strategies for collaborating successfully with prescribers and presents scientific information about psychotropic medications. It discusses which medications are used for the most commonly encountered disorders and how they work.

This book is primarily intended for therapists who want to build collaborative relationships and learn about the biological information they need in order to communicate with physicians. Contributors provide information on the development of an action plan for building collaboration. For example, it reviews what a therapist might consider when deciding to refer a client to a generalist physician. The basic tenets of collaborative care are discussed beyond the communication of a client's psychotropic medication. Whether you are currently in a private practice or in a hospital-based interdisciplinary team, this section provides tools to enhance collaboration.

Subjects emphasize the important role that family members play in medication decision-making and discuss ways to involve them in treatment. Potential concerns address the family's response and insurance issues.

The Therapist's Guide to Psychopharmacology covers:

• clinical effects of hyperprolactinemia
• diagnostic indications for electroconvulsive therapy
• medication consideration in the treatment of obsessive compulsive disorder
• sequential treatment alternatives to relieve depression
• neurological side effects of conventional antipsychotics
• client report of most common reasons for discontinuation of antidepressant medication

Chapters feature basic neuroscience information on how the brain works and how drugs affect the brain, as well as biomedical information that you need to understand about psychotropic medications and key treatment. Plus, topics review how to combine medication and psychotherapy effectively.

Designed to give professionals an indepth look into pharmacotherapy for various mental health disorders, this text offers a conceptual framework, mind-set, and specific approaches for working in a collaborative care environment with medical professionals who prescribe psychotropic drugs to their patients. It is concise, practical, and filled with useful features including lists, tips, sample referrals, and more.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

The Psychopharmacology Treatment Planner - 2007

The series of Practice Planners by Arthur Jongsma and his colleagues have become bestsellers by helping practitioners create documentation efficiently and professionally. This guide is distinctive in the series because it addresses not a particular disorder or client population, but rather the entire area of pharmacology.

The Psychopharmacology Treatment Planner provides all the elements necessary to quickly and easily develop formal treatment plans for conditions that are regularly treated with a combination of psychotropic and psychotherapeutic interventions. These treatment plans will save you many hours of time in preparing paperwork, while satisfying the demands of managed care companies, third-party payers, and state and federal review agencies.

The book supplies prewritten statements but also gives you the freedom to develop customized treatment plans. The Psychopharmacology Treatment Planner:

• is organized around 28 main presenting problems
• includes more than 1,000 clear, well-crafted statements that describe the behavioral manifestations of each problem as well as long-term goals, short-term objectives, and therapeutic options
• uses a convenient reference format—you can locate treatment plan components by behavioral problem or DSM-IV-TR™ diagnosis
• provides a sample treatment plan you can emulate that meets all requirements of third-party payers and accrediting agencies, including JCAHO and the NCQA

The Psychopharmacology Treatment Planner will clarify, simplify, and accelerate the treatment planning process, and allow you to better choose and apply clinically tested treatment options.

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Diagnosis Made Easier

James Morrison, author of the bestselling DSM-IV Made Easy, provides an accessible roadmap and many practical tools for navigating through the complexities of diagnostic decision-making. By taking the reader systematically through the entire process, Diagnosis Made Easier spells out clear-cut principles for drawing on data from a variety of sources to construct wide-ranging differential diagnosis.

A review on decision trees help clinicians construct a valid working diagnosis that serves as a foundation for treating clients. Special features include quick-reference tables, sidebars explaining key concepts, and over 100 case examples that bring the approach to life.

Chapters address specific diagnostic issues and the most frequently encountered mental heath problems including:

• mood disorders
• anxiety disorders
• psychosis
• cognitive disorders
• substance use problems
• personality disorders
• interpersonal issues

Find out information on the safety hierarchy and how not to expose clients to possible risks, inadequate or erroneous treatment. It also places the need for clinicians to list possible diagnoses and conditions that are the most urgent to treat and can have the best outcome.

Chapters feature topics such as diagnosing relational problems, being able to distinguish disorder from normality, identifying disorders associated with substance misuse, and the challenges of changing a diagnosis. Areas cover the importance of assessing risks for violence, and noncompliance as part of a comprehensive evaluation.

In a section that goes over recognizing red flag information, a variety of characteristics that raise warning signs about trusting a client’s information at face value is reviewed. Some warning signs include poor cooperation, multiple personalities, the continuous changing of stories, and much more.

Topics explore how family history can guide diagnosis. Physical symptoms and their treatments can produce or worsen mental symptoms as well. Plus, find out information on why substance use can cause a variety of mental disorders.

Filled with diagrams, tables, highlight boxes, and an appendix that offers a list of important diagnostic principles, this highly user-friendly book offers a complete introduction to the art and science of mental health diagnosis. Diagnosis Made Easier meets the key needs for clinicians and students in any of the mental health disciplines.

Wednesday, April 9, 2008

Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR)

Recalling a past trauma often means reliving the actual experience to many people. It conjures images, sounds, smells, and feelings that can have long-lasting negative effects. It can also interfere with the way one sees the world and the way one relates to other people.

Fortunately, Mark Dworkin offers groundbreaking work and explores the subtle nuances of the therapeutic relationship and the vital role it plays in using Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) with traumatized clients. He provides tools for mental health professionals to effectively apply, treat, and form stronger and healthier relationships with their clients.

Along with a forward written by the originator and developer of EMDR, Francine Shapiro, this text offers detailed cases and transcripts that lead clinicians through complete treatment approaches. It reveals practical applications of relational psychology and the creative uses for EMDR. In addition, material in this book reviews EMDR within an eight-phase approach and shows how relational issues play a key role in each phase of EMDR treatment.

Topic listed in EMDR and the Relational Imperative include:
• how to develop an atmosphere of trust
• ways to improve body awareness and reduce tension
• how to use EMDR with more than one member of the family
• the pitfalls and best practices of procedural steps for EMDR
• ways of working with transferential and countertransferential issues

The section on the three-pronged EMDR approach discusses the overall treatment of a client. It includes the client’s past experiences that set the groundwork for the pathology, the present situations or triggers that currently stimulate the disturbance, and the templates necessary for future action.

This text touches on the importance of clinician self-centering and self-awareness. It also offers appendixes with self-care exercises and a clinician awareness questionnaire.

Intended as a standard reference for all practitioners working to heal the wounds of trauma, this book is an essential resource for the effective application of EMDR.