[.ca] Systems of Psychotherapy (ISBN 0495009474)

Standard yet different:
The authors adequately aquaint the reader with a broad overview of the main theories of psychotherapy and use a language that is accessible to the advanced reader. They also provide personal examples from thier clinical experience that give life to the theories. Brief biographies of the originators of each school of therapy are provided at the beginning of each section which adds an additional personal touch to the theories. Although not extensive, the authors attempt to give the reader empirical data that demonstrates each theory's effectiveness in treating specific disorders. Overall, this is a compact yet comprehensive book that does what a book of its kind sets out to do: find a balance between breadth and depth.

Broad Coverage--BUT TERRIBLE WRITTING:
As a supplemental reader for my graduate course work, this book provided a broad coverage of theorists and their systems. The writing, however, was simply atrocious. Facts are thrown together as random sentences--leaving the reader with a frustratingly incoherent narrative. Overall, the authors present an incredibly pedantic writing style. At times I found myself laughing that anyone could write in such a nonsensical way! Here's an sample of what the reader is in for..."The hyperinflation of brand-name therpaies has produced narcissistic fatigue...This might be called the Exaustion Theory of Integration: the cynical but accurate observation that peace among warring schools is the last resort." In my oppinion--it's better to invest in primary resources than to subject students to this book!

A major step toward integration of the psychotherapies:
In this, their 4th edition, Prochaska and Norcross have begun to achieve their goal--to make the cross-theoretical themes stronger than the language-bound and often confusing differences among psychotherapy theorists. As they clearly demonstrate, the similar themes among theories of talk therapy are strong and the differences among the leading theories are often subtle. My graduate students, though, seem to still need some help at times sorting out the authors' voices from those of the original theorists. I hope to see future editions in which the readers' confusions are anticipated better and there is a better "safety net" to hang onto when the illusion of theoretical certainty is withdrawn.