Good book for introduction to psychotherapy?

[FlowRate]

I'm looking for a book that:
* Is written such that it doesn't feel like reading a textbook.
* Preferably covers a range of major psychotherapeutic modalities.
* Gives a good idea what you "actually do" during therapy and what each therapy can be used for.
* Doesn't have to be particularly deep or academic, I'm mostly just looking to have context for evaluating potential residencies and things they say about their therapy training--I have residency for developing actual depth/content.

Stuff I've already read: MGH Handbook, Psychiatric Interview (Carlat), and Stahl for reference.

I did read some prior book recommendation threads, but a lot of them seemed to be more specific/academic.

Thanks!

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[Amygdarya]

Just a medical student, plus I don't know of any books that describe different psychotherapeutic modalities, but here are some highly readable psychodynamic psychotherapy books that I found quite insightful:
Anthony Storr "The Art of Psychotherapy"
Allan Frankland "The Little Psychotherapy Book"
and, of course, Yalom's "The Gift of Therapy".
Plus McWilliams and Gabbard if you want to go more in depth (their books are also very readable and informative just longer).

 

[splik]

you wont find a good text that covers a range of psychotherapies and doesn't read like a textbook

as amygdara notes, the art of psychotherapy is a great introductory text. Storr wrote the book for psychiatric trainees beginning their first psychotherapy cases and it's not a textbook and he was an excellent writer.

 

[splik]

Mackinnon and Michels The Psychiatric Interview in Clinical Practice is also an an excellent intro to psychodynamic interviewing

 

[strangeglove]

This is a good introduction to psychodynamic psychotherapy from Deborah Cabaniss, who runs the psychotherapy curriculum at Columbia. It is geared toward psychiatrists. Amazon product ASIN 0470684712

 

[strangeglove]

Amazon product ASIN 0470684712

 

[strangeglove]

Sorry it keeps copying the wrong link. It's called Psychodynamic Psychotherapy: A Clinical Manual.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

For CBT, Judith Beck's book (Cognitive Behavior Therapy: Basics and Beyond) is a good start. For ACT, there's Hayes et al.'s Acceptance and Commitment Therapy: The Process and Practice of Mindful Change. For MI, Miller and Rollnick's Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change. And for DBT, pretty much anything by Linehan.

For basic principles about therapy and the therapeutic relationship as well as overviews of a variety of techniques, I was always a fan of Helping People Change (Kanfer, although a bit older now). There's another one I've enjoyed in terms of general principles, but I'm completely blanking on the title and author; I just remember my edition has a black cover with white lettering. Once the name comes to me (or I have a chance to get home), I'll update with its name.

Edit: Found it. It's Persuasion & Healing by Frank. Great book.

 

[nitemagi]

How Psychotherapy Works - Weiss. I concur on Judy Beck's book.

 

[Amygdarya]

as amygdara notes, the art of psychotherapy is a great introductory text.

I actually read it based on your earlier recommendation 😉 It's *really* good; as soon as I finished reading it I wanted to go back to the beginning and start reading it again. And you can buy it for something like $5 on Amazon.

 

[deleted343839]

Great recommendations. I second Weiss, Beck, Miller, Linehan.

Also check out Therapeutic Communication: Knowing What to Say When (Paul Wachtel) and Psychodynamic Therapy (Summers & Barber).

 

[smalltownpsych]

In my graduate program, we started with The Interpersonal World of the Infant by Daniel Stern. Looking back at my clinical experiences since then that decision by our program director made total sense. After all, if you can help regulate the affect of the patient through your interactions, that is a great place to start.

 

[Houston_MSW]

Systems of psychotherapy, a transtheoretical analysis by Prochaska. It is pricey, textbook like, but it gives you pretty comprehensive knowledge of psychotherapy and the critics

 

[Ceke2002]

David Mann has some good stuff, a lot of it about the transference/countertransference aspect of therapy but in my opinion that stuff is still important to learn even at an introductory level. Apart from that -

The Basics of Psychotherapy: An Introduction to Theory and Practice - Bruce Wampold
Introduction to the practice of Psychoanalytical Psychotherapy (2nd edition) - Alessandara Lema
The Psychotherapy Guidebook - Richie and Paul Richard Herink
The Life Cycle - Theodore Lidz (Psychodynamic understanding of the personality and its disorders through the study of the life cycle)

 

[Comanaprocil]

Psychodynamic Psychiatry by Glen Gabbard is also very good.

 

[FlowRate]

Just finished the Art of Psychotherapy. When I got to the last chapter (Personality Types of Psychotherapists), it really struck home. Funny enough, in one of my interviews this season (before reading the book), I was asked about traits that make me suited for psychiatry and I mentioned affect tolerance, they asked me "how do you think you come to have that sort of trait?" and I replied with basically the developmental milieu mentioned in that chapter. Felt silly at the time but seems to be a "good answer" now that I've read that book. So what I'm really saying is that reading that book helped me understand psychotherapy and myself. Recommended.

Also have Gift and Psychiatric Interview to work through. (Library raid.)

 

[Ceke2002]

Just finished reading "The Compleat Therapist" by Jeffrey A Kottler as well - 5/5 would read again 😀
Also "The Therapist's Internal Objects" by Jill and David Scharff is excellent reading.