Abstract
There were two things that caught my attention in this book. First, that the authors are concerned with teaching a non-linear way of thinking to beginners in the field who, unfortunately, live in a world which seems to favour automatic, effortless and unreflective thinking. It is important to clarify exactly what is meant by a non-linear way of thinking from the outset – as the authors do on pages 5 and 6 – and then to elaborate. This is extremely important considering their target audience: people who are starting out in psychotherapy. Second, in this edition, the authors decided to include real-world example clinical cases, ‘thought exercise’ sections and also an accompanying video section (which unfortunately I could not access). They also incorporated recent research findings from the period (2009–2014), realigning the seven domains presented in the first edition: (1) connecting and engaging, (2) assessment, (3) therapeutic relationship, (4) schema dynamics, (5) emotional system, (6) ambivalence and (7) paradoxical intervention.
Among the innovations of this second edition, I would like to highlight the ‘thought exercises’, which stimulate the reader to engage in non-linear thinking through the use of carefully chosen examples. Some basic concepts of psychology are taught in a simple and understandable way, despite the inevitable superficiality that such simplification entails (The Prisoner’s dilemma is a good example of that on page 134). Another important aspect of the book is the use of textboxes throughout the book that contain relevant comments on the seven domains. The reader does not have much time to daydream as he or she is constantly required to put theoretical knowledge to the test in clinical cases and Master’s examples, which crop up throughout the book.
The authors’ attempt to integrate their model with Stoltenberg’s Developmental Model (Stoltenberg, 1997) is of the utmost importance. Page 31 contains the book’s most enlightening graphic in my opinion. Its importance is such that, to a certain extent, the rest of the book is based upon it, at least from a structural point of view. There are good explanations and examples of the first two levels of Stoltenberg. These two levels correspond to six of the seven authors’ domains. I agree that a description of the content of level 3, which would match the domain of paradoxical interventions, would not fit in a book like this. It would also give the false impression that these concepts of level 3 are easily attainable. In my opinion, only the first Stoltenberg level which corresponds to the authors’ first three domains – (1) engaging and connecting, (2) assessment and (3) therapeutic relationship – would merit an entire book for beginners.
Unfortunately, I failed to find any mention of psychodynamic psychotherapies in the book. I do not consider this omission a failure because this book is built on the cognitive-behavioural perspective, which I favour. However, I feel that the introduction should have pointed out that psychodynamic psychotherapies also work with a non-linear, or non-direct, type of thinking that investigate the symbolic underlying physical and psychological symptoms of the human being. Perhaps, it would have been at least worth mentioning this other kind of psychotherapy as another type of ‘out-of-the-box thinking’. This would have also made the cognitive-behavioural perspective even more the focus of the book.