Counselling for Stress Problems

Professor Stephen Palmer PhD is an award winning psychologist and psychotherapist. He is Founder Director of the Centre for Stress Management, London. He is the UK′s first Visiting Professor of Work Based Learning and Stress Management at Middlesex University. He has authored/edited over 50 books including The Beginner′s Guide to Counselling and Psychotherapy (Sage, 2015). He is Co-editor of the European Journal of Counselling Theory, Research and Practice. Currently he is Honorary President of the International Stress Management Association; President of the International Society for Coaching Psychology; Founder Co-Chair of the London Branch of the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies; a Founder Director and Vice President of the Society of Dialectical Behaviour Therapy and a Director and Deputy Chair of the Association for Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy. His interests include jazz, art and coastal walking. Windy Dryden is one of the leading practitioners and trainers in the UK in the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) tradition of psychotherapy. He is best known for his work in Rational-Emotive Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (RECBT), a leading CBT approach.  He has been working in the field of counselling and psychotherapy since 1975 and was one of the first people in Britain to be trained in CBT.He has published over 200 books and has trained therapists all over the world, in as diverse places as the UK, the USA, South Africa, Turkey and Israel.He is Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London.

`Palmer and Dryden have created a valuable resource book for one-to-one work. I am sure it will be of practical value to stress counsellors, offering both breadth of approach and a theoretical underpinning′ - Health Psychology Update`This is an excellent and well thought out book which reflects the authors′ knowledge of this area. It will be of value to practitioners working towards being technically eclectic and... even for readers who do not wish to subscribe to this approach, the book serves to encourage and stimulate understanding of stress management from a multimodal perspective... it provides a wealth of information, and I found the references to case study material throughout the book particularly useful′ - British Psychological Society Counselling Psychology Review`Contains concise, practical descriptions of numerous techniques which could be used by most counsellors in their own style. I particularly liked the emphasis on contra-indications for each technique. They are a convenient and compact resource, and the authors′ professional and responsible treatment of the techniques is a further strength... [The book] is responsible and clear, the authors′ clinical experience is very evident, and I think it′s a useful collection of techniques and cautions about their use. It is also an interesting account and application of multimodal counselling′ - Psychology Teaching Review`The breadth of coverage of problems in this book is vast... [it] is encyclopaedic in that it furnishes timely reminders of a very wide range of techniques and includes the more obvious caveats on their use... a very good text for helping clients with minor stressors′ - British Journal of Guidance and Counselling`A welcome addition to the series. The co-authors... have endeavoured to give a thorough and practical guide to this vast subject and they have managed to do this within the confines of an easy to read, cheap and relatively short paperback... a very useful practical volume for the general counsellor to have on her book shelf′ - Counselling, The Journal of the British Association for Counselling`The underlying effectiveness of this book is the belief that it is the application of actual techniques, and not theories, which help people. Consequently it provides a series of no nonsense how to′s of several techniques, in plain English... [and] it signals the indications and contra-indications of particular methodologies when suggested as a therapeutic interventional approach... The methodologies of achieving the client′s desired outcome... are discussed as a range of interventions: challenging cognitive distortions, faulty inferences, thought block, coping imagery, time projection/tripping, behavioural rehearsal, fixed role therapy, autogenic training, hypnosis and assertiveness training are some of them. This is a good general overview of techniques available to therapists in the field of stress management. It whets the appetite for additional in-depth reading and... a comprehensive list of references and additional sources for training materials are included, along with a practical appendix of handouts and client information′ - The Therapist`A useful addition to my library as it contains a particularly good chapter on the authors′ working model of stress and a thorough chapter on the multimodal approach to assessment and intervention - a veritable encyclopedia of therapeutic techniques for stress management... The book is structured around Lazarus′s BASIC-ID acronym with individual chapters on behavioural, sensory, imaginal, cognitive, interpersonal and lifestyle interventions... [there is also] an excellent chapter on organizational stress and groupwork, together with a few other important topics that did not fit easily into the BASIC-ID format... well-written and referenced′ - Clinical Psychology Forum`The authors clearly demonstrate how to employ a wide range of therapeutic interventions for stress related problems in a rational and flexible manner... This is a very good book that can be used as a handbook of multimodal techniques and is well recommended both to students and to mental health professionals at all levels′ - Behaviour Research & Therapy`Case studies are presented, together with helpful handouts. The wide range of application and use of techniques goes from individual to group counselling, including also occupational and organizational stress. The many examples, tables and exercises make this book exactly what it was meant to be: an easy and well explained technique to help people in coping with a widespread threat in modern times: stress′ - Changes`This is a good and practical book with plenty of clinical advice for the practising counsellor/therapist dealing with clients under stress′ - Scandinavian Journal of Behaviour Therapy`Palmer and Dryden have written a splendid book! By stressing the need for a multimodal approach they clearly demonstrate how it is possible to employ a wide range of strategies in a rational and flexible manner for combatting the ravages of stress... this book contains an enormous amount of useful clinical information that can readily be translated into effective and efficient treatment and counselling procedures. I think it deserves a very wide readership′ - Arnold A Lazarus (from the Foreword)

• Foreword - Arnold A LazarusStressA Working ModelAssessment and Therapeutic ApproachCognitive InterventionsImagery InterventionsBehavioural InterventionsSensory InterventionsInterpersonal InterventionsHealth and Lifestyle InterventionsCase StudiesThe Compleat Stress Counsellor