Capturing the Moment

Michael F. Hoyt, PhD (Yale 1976), is a psychologist based in Mill Valley, California. An internationally recognized teacher and supervisor, he has received numerous honours and awards. His publications include Some Stories Are Better than Others, The Present is a Gift, Brief Psychotherapies: Principles and Practices, The Handbook of Constructive Therapies, and Therapist Stories of Inspiration, Passion, and Renewal: What's Love Got to Do with It?. Moshe Talmon, PhD (University of Pennsylvania 1982), is a psychologist based in Israel, where he is a Senior Lecturer at Tel Aviv Academic College. He is the founder and director of the International Center for SST and teaches and supervises worldwide. He is the author of the best selling Single-Session Therapy: Maximizing the Effect of the First (and Often Only) Therapeutic Encounter, as well as the follow-up books Single-Session Solutions and (in Hebrew) Worthwhile for Every Soul: The Brief Way to an Effective Psychotherapy.

Reviewed by Jon Carlson, PsyD, EdD, ABPP, Distinguished Professor, Governors State University. Carefully crafted single session interventions can produce significant and enduring results. Drs. Hoyt and Talmon and their confreres, all experts in this art form, show the reader how to consistently accomplish immediate psychotherapeutic results. Reviewed by Nicholas A. Cummings, PhD, ScD, President, Cummings Foundation for Behavioral Health, and Former President, American Psychological Association. Hoyt and Talmon and their colleagues have not only demonstrated the effectiveness of brief therapy, but theirs is a timely answer to psychotropic medications which seldom are either appropriate or effective. Reviewed by Donald H. Meichenbaum, PhD, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada and Research Director of the Melissa Institute for Violence Prevention and Treatment, Miami, Florida. This book will force you to think in a new way about psychotherapy and about the efficacy of single session therapy (SST). It is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn about what can be accomplished in one visit. Any reservations you may hold about SST are thoroughly addressed. This excellent book is filled with a wide variety of case studies, empirical reviews, practical guidelines and personal anecdotes of leaders in the field of SST and walk-in clinics. Kudos to Hoyt and Talmon for bringing this timely collection together. Reviewed by Haim Omer, PhD, Professor, School of Psychological Sciences, Tel-Aviv University. This volume does an excellent job of showing how the single session interventions can be applied not only in themselves, but also as part of a more general mental health policy, helping to reduce wait lists, give an immediate response to immediate needs, and serve as a healthy counterpart to our tendency to think that in therapy, more is always better. Reviewed by Tal Ben Shahar, PhD, international bestselling author of Choose the Life You Want. In a world where we are constantly reminded of the ever-darkening state of mental health, this book provides a ray of hope. The research on single session therapy demonstrates that positive change is not only possible, it is also accessible to all.