COGNITIVE THERAPY FOR CHALLENGING PROBLEMS
What to Do when the Basics Don't Work
By Judith S. Beck, Ph.d., The Guliford Press, 2005

The author outlines how to identify and overcome many difficulties that can arise in cognitive therapy. This book is a practical guide for use with challenging problems for clinitians with diverse levels of experience. It will help clinitians learn to recognize and solve problems, from clinical missteps to complex treatement challenges.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify therapeutic obstacles
• Explain fundamental elements of cognative therapy
• Identify and explain cognative profiles of Axis I and II disorders

COGNITIVE THERAPY AND THE EMOTIONAL DISORDERS
337 Pages
Aaron T. Beck, M.D.
Meridian Books, 1979

Presents the concept that a person's psychological difficulties stem from erroneous assumptions, faulty concepts of himself/herself, and of the world. The author puts forth the idea that such a person can be helped to recognize and correct distortions in thinking that cause emotional disturbance.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Learn the meaning of hidden messages.
• Identify automatic thoughts
• Identify the roles of sadness, anger and anxiety
• Explain how to understand and overcome phobias and depression
• Explain how the cognitive system of therapy can be applied to specific problems

NEW
THE EMOTIONAL SURVIVAL GUIDE FOR CAREGIVERS
Barry J. Jacobs, Psy.D
The Guilford Press, 2006
261 Pages

While this book is directed at caregiving for aging parents, the advice is applicable to virtually all caregiving. The book is organized around the story of a caregiving family and its cancer-ridden matriarch.


Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Define Commitments One Can Live With
• Identify Sources of Emotional Support and Hands-On-Help
• Discuss the Challenge of the Hope for Recovery and the Acceptance of Reality. 

ESSENTIALS OF SKILLED HELPING
& Skilled Helping Around the World
293 Pages
Gerard Egan, Ph.D., 2006

The author presents a three-stage model of helping. The centerpiece of the book is a problem-management and opportunity-developement helping model, and the methods and communication skills that make it work. This course is about three things: the values needed to establish authentic helping relationships with others, the communication skills needed to engage others in a collaborative helping dialogue, and a universal problem management and opportunity development framework. This material outlines the fundamental stages, tasks, and processes of helping.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Discuss why effective communication skills are necessary to be an effective helper
• Discuss question/answer techniques for working with clients
• Explain the nature and purpose of helping

ESSENTIALS OF TESTING AND ASSESSMENT
254 Pages
A Practical Guide for Counselors, Social Workers, and Psychologists
Edward S. Neukrug, Ph.D., and R. Charles Fawcett, M.S.Ed, 2006

The material in this book is divided into four sections: History and Current Professional Issues, Test Worthiness and Test Statistics, Commonly Used Assessment Techniques, and Diagnosis and Writing the Assessment Report. Note that there is a chapter on Ethical, Legal, and Professional Issues in Assessment. Other information includes the means and methods by which tests are created, validated, scored, and interpreted. Commonly used techniques for assessing educational ability, intelligence, and career and occupational aptitude and also included.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the difference between testing and assessment
• Explain the purpose of an assessment report
• Discuss clinical assessment and what it includes

FAMILY FIRST
276 Pages
Dr. Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D.
Free Press, 2004

Presents the concept that "family" is more important today than in generations past and that its erosion is unacceptable. The author begins by telling the reader what to stop doing, and what to start doing so that competing messages and influences are drowned out. He defines "success" regarding families and discusses the steps to create and claim it.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the different parenting styles
• Explain the tools for purposeful parenting
• Explain special strategies for divorced and blended families

THE HEART OF COUNSELING
A Guide to Developing Therapeutic Relationships
279 Pages
Jeff L. Cochran, Ph.D., and Nancy Cochran, M.A., 2006

The authors present skills for building positive therapeutic relationships, rather than techniques focusing on behavior change. Concrete and detailed steps for creating these relationships which help clients change in positive, measurable, and practical ways, are discussed.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to discuss:

• The importance of deep therapeutic relationships
• The value of each counselor's self-development
• How to implement the skills leading to becoming an excellent counselor

HOW TO RAISE YOUR SELF-ESTEEM
166 Pages
Nathaniel Branden-Bantam Books  1991

This offering builds on the concepts presented in The Psychology of Self-Esteem, by the same author.  The difference between low self-esteem and high self-esteem is the difference between passivity and action, between failure and success.  Effective techniques are presented:

• Breaking free from negative self-concept/self-defeating behavior.
• Dissolving internal barriers to success in work and love
• Overcoming anxiety, depression, guilt, and anger

LIFE STRATEGIES
304 Pages
Doing What Works - Doing What Matters
Philip C. McGraw, Ph.D., Hyperion, 1999

The author presents a variety of strategies for coping with the drama and traumas of life.  He presents an organized methodology for dealing with the realities of life, with emphasis on the concept that it is not too late to change one's approach to living.  He identifies a myriad of problems and a realistic way to deal with them.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to identify:

• The Ten Laws of Life
• Seven Steps to acquiring one's goals
• A results based assessment of managing one's life 

NEW
PLANNING FOR UNCERTAINTY
Living Wills and Other Advance Directives
by David John Doukas, M.D. , and William Reichel, M.D.
Johns Hopkins University Press, 2nd Edition, 2007.
124 Pages

People of all ages need to document and communicate clear decisions about the final details of their lives -- when they are healthy. This book will help individuals provide this information to caregivers and family members. A question-and-answer format helps to guide one through this process.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to explain:

• Advance Directives
• The Healthcare Decision-Making Process
• The Patient Self-Determination Act

SELF MATTERS
309 Pages
Dr. Phillip C. McGraw, Ph.D.
Simon & Schuster Source, 2001

The author explores how one's self-concept came to be, and presents an approach to creating a plan for living.  He challenges the reader to find one's "authentic self" - the person each of us has always wanted to be.  This, in contrast to the "fictional self" a person one believes he "should" be and the "person" others reinforce.  A plan is given on how to demystify one's self-concept, and how to reclaim one's authentic self.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to identify:

• What are defining moments in a persons life?
• Seven critical choices
• Who are pivotal people and how they shape a person

THE SIX PILLARS OF SELF-ESTEEM
341 Pages
Nathaniel Branden, 1995

• Six action-based practices for daily living
• Simple exercises for increasing personal awareness and effectiveness
• The importance of self-esteem in the workforce, parenting, education, psychotherapy, and society

NEW
SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE
The New Science of Human Relationships
By Daniel Goleman, Ph. D.
Hutchinson, 2006
334 Pages

This book presents highly readable exploration of the best research avaliable by modern psychologists and educators. The author contends that people are designed for sociability and are "connected", brain-to-brain, with others. He suggests that people can "catch" others' emotions in the way that a cold is "catchy". He also discusses the dark side of social intelligence.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Identify the Positive and Negative Aspects of Social Intelligence
• Explain how People are Designed for Sociability
• Explain "Mindsight"

NEW
TREATING THE ABUSIVE PARTNER
An Individualized Cognitive-Behavioral Approach
By Christopher M. Murphy, Ph.D., and Christopher I. Echkardt, Ph.D.
The Guilford Press, 2005
290 Pages

The authors challenge the usefullness of group treatment for this problem. Presented, is an empirically based approach for clinicians conducting individual treatment with this population.

Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

• Explain the authors' Four-Phase Treatment Model
• Discuss How to Eliminate Assaultive and Threatening Behaviors
• Explain How to Build Better Relationship Skills