Couple Therapy for Depression

David Hewison D.Cple.Psych.Psych is head of research and a consultant couple psychotherapist at the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships. He has a background in adult mental health, training, and individual and couple psychotherapy and research. He was part of the Expert Reference Group that agreed the competencies for the treatment of depression by couple therapy, as recommended by the UK's National Institute of Clinical Excellence. He developed the clinical model of treatment from these that became the basis for Couple Therapy for Depression in the UK National Health Service and is responsible for the professional training and supervision that leads to accreditation in this modality. He has supervised practitioners, supervisors, and trainers in Couple Therapy for Depression, revising the model in response to its experience in practice. Author of many papers and chapters on individual and couple therapy, he teaches internationally.Christopher Clulow PhD is a Senior Fellow of the Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships, London, where he works as a visiting lecturer and researcher. He has published extensively on marriage, partnerships, parenthood and couple psychotherapy, most recently from an attachment perspective. He has a long history of contributing to thinking about the processes involved in ending relationships, and his most recent work has involved heading up a project identifying competences for treating depression through couple therapy under the Department of Health's Improving Access to Psychological Therapies initiative. He has also recently consulted to and evaluated interventions provided by a mental health agency to reduce depression in parents of young children. He is a founding member and past Deputy Chair of the British Society of Couple Psychotherapists and Counsellors and a member of the editorial board for Couple and Family Psychoanalysis.Harriet Drake worked in a health psychology research unit at Guy's hospital before training as a psychodynamic couple therapist and psychosexual therapist at The Tavistock Centre for Couple Relationships. As well as practicing there as a clinician she is the lead trainer and supervisor in TCCR's Accredited Couple Therapy for Depression Training for practitioners working in Improving Access to Psychological Therapies services in the NHS.

The book is a stimulating read, and an excellent step by step primer on depression and its treatment for trainee therapists and even for people seeking therapy. It also provides a useful and informative update for more experienced clinicians. The way therapists essential competences were decided and the training developed is fascinating and would be useful to other psychological therapy organisations whose work has not yet been widely adopted. I particularly like the use of case examples and of reflective practice questions at the end of each chapter.