Larry Michelson – författare

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with sufficient knowledge regard­ ing social skills assessment and training with children so that they can imple­ ment and evaluate social skills programs on their own. Increased interest in promoting children's social skills has stemmed in part from advances in research that have shown the importance of childhood social competency for adjustment in both childhood and adulthood. There is a growing need for assessment and training methods that can be utilized by diverse groups of professionals and paraprofessionals. This book is intended for mental health workers, teachers, educators, clinicians, and child-care personnel. The book thoroughly reviews the literature to acquaint readers with relevant findings on social skills and to pro­ vide discussion regarding contemporary issues and assessment techniques. Sub­ sequently, comprehensive procedures in the training of children's social skills are presented. Readers are also provided with 16 detailed training modules, each of which comprises a rationale, instructions, Scripts, and homework assign­ ments. These modules are designed to permit effective implementation of social skills training programs. Moreover, they provide a structured and program­ matically designed format that builds in clinical flexibility for their use with individual children or groups of children. These modules are followed by a clinical-issues section designed to address potential obstacles to effective training. Following these major sections, two appendixes have been included in the book. The first appendix is a step-by-step description of how to conduct an assessment.

Recent advances in behavioral and biological treatments have raised the hopes and expectations of patients and clinicians alike in regard to obsessive-compulsive disorder-one of the most disabling, crippling, and resistant conditions in psy­ chiatry. In addition to their therapeutic efficacy, these new treatments have also opened new conceptual perspectives, thus complementing the traditional psychological theories of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Therefore, it is timely for these various conceptual frameworks and the treatment modalities they engender to be integrated and synthesized in the pres­ ent volume. To this end, eminent scholars in their respective areas were invited to contribute to this book, which we hope will symbolize and-in some measure-actualize the spirit of collaboration required if we are to fully comprehend the com­ plex nature of this disorder as well as to address existing ther­ apeutic challenges. In Chapter 1, Rachman sets the stage by providing an overview of the conceptual and therapeutic issues of obsessive-compulsive disorder. This is followed by an in­ depth review of the behavioral interventions from which Foa vii viii PREFACE and colleagues successfully distill the specific therapeutic processes of exposure and response prevention. In the third chapter, Sifneos deals with the psychodynamic factors under­ lying obsessive-compulsive phenomena and details his in­ novative technique of brief, anxiety-provoking psychotherapy aimed specifically at the obsessional state.

Contemporary behavior therapy encompasses diverse conceptual positions, clinical and applied problems, and intervention techniques. Behavior therapy has spread to several disciplines to provide substantive concepts and procedures as well as methodological tenets regarding how intervention techniques are to be evaluated. The proliferation of behavior therapy research has produced a plethora of texts. Typically texts review the history of particular treatments and detail contemporary advances. The historical underpinnings are often emphasized with the heavily labored view that in order to understand where one is going, it is important to understand where one has been. To be sure, historical roots of behavior therapy are important to document. However, a given history might have many different outcomes. Similarly, the current status of par­ ticular areas is frequently reviewed. Sometimes the number of reviews seems to approach or exceed the number of sound studies that there are to be reviewed. A review of current work is obviously essential but leaves open major questions of where the work will all lead. A valuable addition to ex­ isting reviews would be information that points in a prescriptive or explicit way to areas that are likely to be important in future work. The present book is unique in its approach and focus. Brief reviews of contemporary advances are provided in diverse areas of behavior therapy and serve as a point of departure to chart emerging trends and future direc­ tions.

Americans are "healing themselves" (Heckler, 1985) and prevention has taken root (McGinnis, 1985a). We are altering our lifestyle to reduce physical and mental health risks. Perhaps as important is the fact that the science of prevention is beginning to catch up with the practices of prevention, although some might argue that the popularity of these practices far outstrips sound theoretical and empirical foundations. The chapter authors in this volume examine the theoretical and empirical foundations of many current prevention practices and, where data exist, discuss the status of prevention efforts. Where substantial prevention is not yet on the horizon, the authors attempt to point us in the right direction or at least share with the reader some of the risk factors that should be addressed in our research. We hope that readers will be stimulated to discuss the issues raised, advance the current research, and, where possible, adopt the prevention and health promotion strategies that are supported by sound theoretical and empirical work. This volume can in no way be comprehensive with respect to the current work in prevention; however, we hope that we have provided a sampling of prevention activities and issues that appear together in one volume for perhaps the first time. The primary intent of this volume is modest, and the reader should not attempt to find continuity among the various chapters. The only binding among these contributions is their focus on prevention.

The purpose of this book is to provide readers with sufficient knowledge regard­ ing social skills assessment and training with children so that they can imple­ ment and evaluate social skills programs on their own. Increased interest in promoting children's social skills has stemmed in part from advances in research that have shown the importance of childhood social competency for adjustment in both childhood and adulthood. There is a growing need for assessment and training methods that can be utilized by diverse groups of professionals and paraprofessionals. This book is intended for mental health workers, teachers, educators, clinicians, and child-care personnel. The book thoroughly reviews the literature to acquaint readers with relevant findings on social skills and to pro­ vide discussion regarding contemporary issues and assessment techniques. Sub­ sequently, comprehensive procedures in the training of children's social skills are presented. Readers are also provided with 16 detailed training modules, each of which comprises a rationale, instructions, Scripts, and homework assign­ ments. These modules are designed to permit effective implementation of social skills training programs. Moreover, they provide a structured and program­ matically designed format that builds in clinical flexibility for their use with individual children or groups of children. These modules are followed by a clinical-issues section designed to address potential obstacles to effective training. Following these major sections, two appendixes have been included in the book. The first appendix is a step-by-step description of how to conduct an assessment.