Tag: Books

Introducing Diligent Page Publications

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Introducing Diligent Page Publications

So, if you’ve read the blog for awhile, you know I can get ranty about some stuff in our field. And nothing gets me on a soapbox faster than talking about how EXPENSIVE therapy is and how much that prohibits so many people from accessing good resources.  

I love therapists. I am a therapist. It’s not that I don’t want us to make a fair wage and maybe even have nice things. I do. 

(Side note: Here’s a little experiment for you to try. First, go to the bank and get $150 in one dollar bills. Then, find a therapist-colleague. Set a timer for 60 seconds. Now, every time the time goes off, give them three $1 bills. Or have them do it to you, or both. Do it for the WHOLE 50 minutes. Just notice what that’s like for you. And discuss.) 

So, I’ve been channeling that rage-energy that gets worked up in me sometimes (usually when someone at my office says something like, “But can’t they pay the full rate?” or “We’re increasing everyone’s rate by $5”) into writing. So, I started Diligent Page Publications as a place to publish low cost, super high quality, empirically-supported resources for clients. (It’s just in its baby stages; don’t get TOO excited.)

My favorite piece of this is a little ebook that teaches clients how to do therapy efficiently, saving them time and money and making more space for new clients, while not reducing therapist rates! 

And then I have a few guided journals that I made for clients and decided could be a useful resource for people who are doing life transitions (instead of therapy or as an adjunct to help therapy go faster/less expensively), because it turns out there really aren’t good, inner-world-focused books for people doing life transitions! 

I have a few other projects in the works, and of course I’ll post about them when they’re ready. But I want to share Diligent Page with you, because there’s a chance as a continued reader of this blog, you might share some of this desire with me!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Books Volume 4: Books for Certain Clients

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Great Books Volume 4: Books for Certain Clients

This is a list of books that are definitely accessible to clients/laypersons, but I don’t think they’re right for just anyone. 

 

  • Barkley’s ADHD books
    • These book are filled with great behaviorally-based strategies. Only give them to conscientious clients who actually do their homework, though. (Note: This is sometimes harder to find in families with AD/HD!) If the strategies aren’t implemented well and consistently, clients will only get frustrated. You might consider a self-compassion kind of strategy if you think that might happen.
  • The Gifts of Imperfection (Brene Brown)
    • For myself, I find Brown a bit saccharine. However, there’s definitely a population of clients for whom her writing is needed and timely. Especially, it’s useful for those clients who have a very strong inner critic and who have a tendency to over-extend themselves on behalf of others. She seems to speak especially well to women. (Of note, this might be a good option for supplementing that self-compassion strategy mentioned above)
  • Come As You Are (Emily Nagoski)
    • This is, hands down, my absolute favorite book about sex, ever. Nagoski is hard science with a delightful and relational writing voice. Every client (individual and couple) I’ve ever offered this book to has had a good experience and gotten something from it. It’s incredibly validating and normalizing, and gives couples great language for talking about the dual-control model of sexuality. Really great in terms of diversity of sexual normalcy without being overwhelming, even for conservative clients.
  • Authentic Happiness (Martin Seligman)
    • I honestly didn’t like this book (or the one that came after it, about PERMA). Though I love strengths-based counseling, Seligman isn’t my kind of writer, and is a bit surface for me. BUT… this is a great book for some clients – when you want to use a strengths based approach with clients who like to do their own “research” (i.e., who tend to find too much awful stuff on google!) or those who have limited time/money to come into the office, this is a great book to give them a shared vocabulary to use with you. I’ve also found it can be really useful in couples’ work, when clients need help identifying and being aware of partners’ strengths, and for setting them on an upward trajectory, focused less on problems.
  • Twelve Rules for Life (Jordan Peterson)
    • Peterson is a controversial character, I admit. I think that’s more because he speaks in a brash and provocative, uncompromising way. But he has some good science behind him, and in it, clinical wisdom. He has a very strong grounding in Jungian psychology. His book speaks in an accessible way to the existential concepts of meaning, purpose, freedom, and responsibility. I think the reputation he has for speaking most eloquently into the lives of men (esp young men) is deserved. But the message isn’t only useful for young adult male clients. I’ve had a lot of clients enjoy and have success with this book, especially around issues of depression and demoralization.

 

Comment if you have other books to share that you’ve (1) read yourself, (2) recommended to clients, and (3) had good experiences with!

 

 

 

 

Great Books Volume 3: Divergent Classics

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Great Books Volume 3: Divergent Classics

Here’s a list of books that are well worth reading, written by fathers/mothers in the field, but that are a bit more specific (not quite so much emphasis on “how therapy works as a whole”). These tend to be a bit newer, and a bit shorter, if that has been something that’s kept you from reading along so far! You’ll see some of our favorite authors return on this list, as well…

 

  • Man’s Search for Meaning (Viktor Frankl)
    • Short and incredibly powerful. More personally beneficial than clinically useful, which is why Doctor and the Soul made the first list
  • Love is Never Enough (Aaron Beck)
    • Although this is about working with couples, it’s a good cognitive therapy text without having to read Cognitive Therapy for Depression (although that’s a good one, too). Prisoners of Hate is also awesome!
  • Sex Without Guilt (Albert Ellis)
    • Sure, there are plenty of resources to learn REBT, but why read them when you can learn it while listening to Ellis pontificate about sex five decades ago?! (There’s also an updated version which is shockingly similar to the first edition!)
  • Let Your Body Interpret Your Dreams (Eugene Gendlin)
    • Hands down, the best dream interpretation book I’ve ever read, and it also really exemplifies the down-to-the-ground humanistic, phenomenologically-oriented theory of therapy
  • Emotional Awareness (Dalai Lama and Paul Ekman)
    • A brilliant, easy-to-read dialogue that covers the basics of universal emotional experience and gives insight into the real Buddhist tradition that the West has marred
  • Behind the One Way Mirror (Cloe Madanes)
    • If you were interested in Jay Haley’s Strategies of Psychotherapy, you’ll like this case-study rich exploration of strategic family therapy
  • The Family Crucible (Carl Whitaker and Augustus Napier)
    • This would be a treatise on systems-oriented family therapy if it were a huge, boring tome. Instead it’s a lively narrative that follows one family’s journey. You may end up with more questions than answers, but that’s ok!
  • Waking The Tiger (Peter Levine)
    • The book that effectively birthed Somatic Experiencing and other body-focused trauma therapies. This is readable on a client level, but still has a good science background. May change the way you see the whole mind-body connection, not just with trauma.
  • Flow (Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi)
    • Really useful for those clients who needs more of a coaching or consultation style, or who have any kind of performance concern (professional, athletic, even relational). Very clear concept, well elaborated, easy to incorporate into your own life and into therapy
  • Gifts Differing (Isabel Briggs-Myers)
    • Great secondary text on Jung’s personality theory and great primary text on MBTI. So much more depth than what you learned in your assessment class, and it’ll give you useful constructs to work with, even if you don’t care for the actual instrument.
  • The Schopenhauer Cure (Irvin Yalom)
    • Existential classic in a very readable narrative form. Also, lots of good stuff about group therapy, all demonstrated rather than explained.
  • On Encounter Groups (Carl Rogers)
    • THE book on process groups. It’s brief and, if you’re a highlighter, prepare for more yellow than white – it’s so rich!

 

I really don’t mean to fill your bookshelves and/or drain your wallet. It’s just that they’re all SO GOOD. Comment below if you’ve read one of these and you want to recommend it for people to begin first! 

 

 

 

 

Great Books Volume 1: Indispensable Psychotherapy Classics

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Great Books Volume 1: Indispensable Psychotherapy Classics

By far and away, one of the most common questions I get from students and supervisees is “what should I read to learn more about xyz?” Great question! And I love answering it, as well as teaching how to identify a good source (maybe that’s a good idea for a later post!).

I love to read books in the field, and I especially love to read the founding fathers and mothers of psychology and psychotherapy. I think this might come from having my own learning influences that emphasized primary source material, and also definitely from teaching Theories of Counseling and Psychotherapy. Textbooks never do justice to the real authors.

Definitely, in some later posts, I’ll talk some about specific books in more detail. Here, I’d like to give you a list of what I think are the best primary source books for psychotherapists. I’m defining “best” here as a combination of most foundational and most useful (so you’ll notice that Freud doesn’t make the list, even though he’s FREUD. And other favorites like William James’ Principles of Psychology. Sigh. Another day.) I’m also going to (painfully) limit myself to one per author.

 

  • On Becoming a Person (Carl Rogers)
  • What Life Could Mean to You (Alfred Adler)
  • The Undiscovered Self: The Individual in Modern Society (Carl Jung)
  • Your Many Faces (Virginia Satir)
  • The Gestalt Approach and Eye Witness to Therapy (Fritz Perls)
  • Focusing (Eugene Gendlin)
  • I’m OK, You’re OK (Thomas Harris)
  • Warning: Psychiatry Could Be Hazardous to Your Mental Health (William Glasser)
  • Strategies of Psychotherapy (Jay Haley)
  • The Doctor and The Soul (Viktor Frankl)
  • Life Without Fear (Joseph Wolpe)

 

Ok, I can already tell that future lists are imminent! There are SO many books that I’m having trouble not listing! But start with these. You’ll be glad you did!

Comment below and let me know the book you think I missed!