Main description:

This book proposes a novel method of combining the current approaches to counselling and psychotherapy into one coherent framework. The authors argue that the cognitive behavioural tradition (largely focused on thought patterns) and the psychodynamic approach (centred on the client's experience and relationships), can be successfully integrated with insights from cognitive neuroscience, to form a fruitful synthesis. In doing so they provide a perspective that will enable practitioners to more fully appreciate each client's unique inner world, based on their individual history and environment.

The authors point towards the brain's innate ability to understand and learn from experience so as to direct the growth of that inner world. This book elaborates a method of tapping into this innate growth potential, so as to help clients move forward when they have become trapped in non-productive patterns or mental stalemates. It will provide fresh insights and a valuable resource for counselling psychologists, counsellors and psychotherapists, as well as for academics and students in these fields.

Contents:

PrefaceChapter 1 - The psychotherapeutic landscape at the start of the 21st CenturyChapter 2 - Insights from cognitive neuroscienceChapter 3 - In search of the good lifeChapter 4 - Defined by our pastChapter 5 - Principles of cognitive psychodynamic therapyChapter 6 - When life loses its lustreChapter 7 - Traumatic disorders - when the home collapsesChapter 8 - Invaded by threat: anxiety and obsessive-compulsive thoughtsChapter 9 - Possible worldsChapter 10 - Two paradigms to explore inner worldsChapter 11 - High level navigationChapter 12 - Conclusions and future directionsIndex