Focuses heavily on contemporary approaches and cross-professional applications

This book emphasizes "big picture" frameworks to conceptualize how major theories of counseling and psychotherapy operate and compare. This innovative new text presents theories using an "paradigm" framework: the organic-medical, psychological, systemic/relational, and social constructivist paradigms. . Designed to be accessible and relevant to practice, the book enhances and reinforces learning with the inclusion of learning objectives, chapter summaries, applications of each theory in practice, and brief biographies of major theorists.

The text moves beyond traditional approaches with expanded coverage of relationship-centered and post-modern theories such as Dialectic Behavior Therapy, Emotion Focused Therapy, Solution-Focused Brief Therapy, Narrative Therapy, and others. Each theory is explored in depth through the use of a student-mentor dialogue that examines and debates the challenges that arise with each theory. The book also addresses the counseling role in psychiatric case management, reflecting the growing reality of cross-professional collaboration. Practical yet rigorous, the text is a state-of-the-art introduction to contemporary approaches in counseling and psychotherapy for students in counseling, social work, professional psychology, marriage and family therapy, and related professions.