This chapter describes many of the theories that involve taxonomies. Most taxonomies of love begin in the same place: The language of love is examined, whether through an examination of film, literature, music, or firsthand accounts of people about their love life. The three primary love styles are eros, storge, and ludus. Eros is a passionate kind of love that is characterized by strong emotions and intense physical longing for the loved one. With storge, should the lovers break up, there is a greater chance than with other love styles that they remain friends. Ludus commonly is displayed by people who prefer to remain single and who see love as a game of conquest and numbers. A pragmatic lover hesitates to commit to a relationship until he or she feels confident of finding the right partner. The different love styles also correlate with some other personality traits.

This chapter shows the importance, for older persons, of support groups. In spite of the changes that have occurred in the American family, and all the negative things that fill the popular press concerning family relationships, the family is still the backbone of support for most older people. To some extent, the type of family support older people obtain depends on whether they are living in the community or in an institutional setting such as a group home, retirement village, or nursing facility. Whether a person is married, has great impact on that person’s support within a family setting including emotional, financial, and physical support, particularly in times of illness or infirmity. The success of a second marriage depends to a considerable extent on the reaction of the adult children of the elderly couple. Older grandparents, no matter how motivated, can find caring for grandchildren to be very tiring.

The primary purpose of Module 3 of the MAC program is the understanding and exploration of values as a central orienting concept. In the context of understanding the important role of values in enhanced performance and quality of life, the functional and dysfunctional role of emotions is also considered. This chapter suggests to clients that their personal values will be the anchor point for all behavioral decisions that need to be made in the course of enhancing performance and achieving goals. The concepts of mindful awareness, mindful attention, and cognitive fusion and cognitive defusion become integrated with the concept of values-directed versus emotion-directed behavior. The Relevant Mindful Activity Exercise is intended to connect the mindfulness concept to a relevant performance situation in the client’s life. The question of personal values is particularly salient when confronted by the variety of emotions and internal rules that client confronts on a daily basis.

This chapter explains a set of guidelines to help mental health professionals and clients move away from the gender stereotypes that perpetuate inequality and illness. Identifying dominance requires conscious awareness and understanding of how gender mediates between mental health and relationship issues. An understanding of what limits equality is significantly increased when we examine how gendered power plays out in a particular relationship and consider how it intersects with other social positions such as socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation. To contextualize emotion, the therapist draws on knowledge of societal and cultural patterns, such as gendered power structures and ideals for masculinity and femininity that touch all people’s lives in a particular society. Therapists who seek to support women and men equally take an active position that allows the non-neutral aspects of gendered lives to become visible.

This chapter presents how eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy and Theraplay can be used together when treating children with a history of complex trauma. Theraplay focuses on the parent-child relationship as the healing agent that holds within it the potential to cultivate growth and security in the child. The chapter shows some core concepts that help define and illuminate the application of Theraplay. Now that a clear review of basic Theraplay principles has been provided, people need to look at EMDR therapy and the adaptive information processing (AIP) model in conjunction with Theraplay and Theraplay core values. Early in its development, Theraplay integrated parental involvement into its therapeutic model. During the reprocessing phases of EMDR therapy, Theraplay can be very helpful in providing different avenues for emotion regulation and for the repairing of the attachment system.

Beginning with Module 5 of the mindfulness-acceptance-commitment (MAC) protocol, this chapter seeks to enhance the client’s commitment to attaining performance-related values through the activation of specific values-directed behaviors. In this portion of MAC, the intent is to help clients distinguish between goals and values and explicate specific behaviors that will optimize what really matters to them in their individual performance domain. The chapter reviews the role that emotion plays as a barrier against necessary performance behaviors and, conversely, the concept of poise as a necessary ingredient in optimal performance. It identifies specific behaviors that, if engaged in regularly and consistently, are likely to result in enhanced performance. In Module 5, the consultant continues to help the client move ever closer to mindful engagement in competition by focusing more heavily on mindfulness practice.

During the installation phase, the child can experience a felt positive belief about himself or herself in association with the memory being reprocessed. Children with history of early and chronic trauma have difficulty tolerating positive affect. Enhancing and amplifying their ability to tolerate and experience positive emotions and to hold positive views of the self are pivotal aspects of eye movement desensitization reprocessing (EMDR) therapy. This chapter shows a script that may be used with children during the body scan phase. Assisting children in achieving emotional and psychological equilibrium after each reprocessing session as well as ensuring their overall stability are fundamental goals of the closure phase of EMDR therapy. The reevaluation phase of EMDR therapy ensures that adequate integration and assimilation of maladaptive material has been made. The future template of the EMDR three-pronged protocol is a pivotal aspect of EMDR therapy.

In the therapeutic community (TC) perspective, changing the whole person unfolds in the continual interaction between the individual and the community. This chapter provides the multidimensional picture of social and psychological change in terms of behaviors, cognitions, and emotions. Four major dimensions reflect the community’s objective view of individual change. The dimensions of community member and socialization refer to the social development of the individual specifically as a member of the TC community and generally as a prosocial participant in the larger society. The developmental and psychological dimensions refer to the evolution of the individual as a unique person, in terms of personal growth, personality, and psychological function. Each illustrates typical indicators of individual change in terms of objective behaviors, cognitions, and emotions. Changing the “whole person”, however, includes how individuals perceive and experience the program, the treatment, and themselves in the process.

The primary purpose of Module 4 of the MAC protocol is the development of an understanding of the costs associated with experiential avoidance. This chapter highlights the contrasting benefits of experiential acceptance in pursuing performance desires within the context of a values-based life. The essential goal of the MAC program is to convey the idea that emotions are not the enemy of effective performance, but rather it is the things that people do to eliminate or otherwise control emotions that are counterproductive to high-level performance states. A consultant and client explore the workability of the client’s past efforts to control negative thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations. Mindfulness exercises should be used as a means of enhancing the capacity to observe and describe internal processes and external events. The chapter concludes with a discussion on the issue of the consultant’s comfort with and understanding of the basic acceptance model.

This chapter offers a brief and focused review of human development, with specific emphasis on cognition and emotion. It is essential that the reader distinguishes between cognitive development, cognitive psychology, and cognitive therapy. Both short-term and long-term memory improve, partly as a result of other cognitive developments such as learning strategies. Adolescents have the cognitive ability to develop hypotheses, or guesses, about how to solve problems. The pattern of cognitive decline varies widely and the differences can be related to environmental factors, lifestyle factors, and heredity. Wisdom is a hypothesized cognitive characteristic of older adults that includes accumulated knowledge and the ability to apply that knowledge to practical problems of living. Cognitive style and format make the mysterious understandable for the individual. Equally, an understanding of an individual’s cognitive style and content help the clinician better understand the client and structure therapeutic experiences that have the greatest likelihood of success.

Over the years, cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) has been applied to a variety of client populations in a range of treatment settings and to the range of clinical problems. This chapter provides a general overview of the cognitive behavior history, model, and techniques and their application to clinical social work practice. It begins with a brief history and description, provides a basic conceptual framework for the approach, highlights the empirical base of the model, and then discusses the use of cognitive, behavior, and emotive/affective interventions. Cognitive behavior therapy is based on several principles namely cognitions affect behavior and emotion; certain experiences can evoke cognitions, explanation, and attributions about that situation; cognitions may be made aware, monitored, and altered; desired emotional and behavioral change can be achieved through cognitive change. CBT employs a number of distinct and unique therapeutic strategies in its practice.

The EMDR Accelerated Information Resourcing Protocol (EMDR-AIR Protocol®) is designed to look for that learned generational reaction to trauma that the client is currently using to cope with the current situation while, at the same time, tapping into the historical strengths and resources that enabled survival. These resources are found through the rapid accessing of client history by using Multi-Tiered Trans-Generational Genogram (MTTG). The MTTG seeks to look at family history, birth dates, cultural information, transgenerational behavioral patterns, lifestyle, untold secrets, multi-tiered transgenerational trauma and sexual history, belief systems, historical events, and styles of celebration. The main objectives for the EMDR-AIR Protocol are to recognize potential stuck components in the EMDR processing that are related to trans-generationally transmitted behavioral and emotional patterns and to enable the client to step away from the crisis so as to begin the process of reprocessing with EMDR, with the chronologically most relevant Touchstone Event.

This chapter focuses on self-care for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) practitioners. The protocol was derived from the notes of Neal Daniels, a clinical psychologist who was the director of the posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) Clinical Team at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center. In Dr. Daniels’s words, the procedure is short, simple, effective. Right after the session or later on in the day when it is possible, bring up the image of the patient, do 10–15 eye movements (EMs); generate a positive cognition (PC) and install it with the patient’s image, and do 10–15 EMs. Once the negative affects have been reduced, realistic formulations about the patient’s future therapy are much easier to develop. Residual feelings of anger, frustration, regret, or hopelessness have been replaced by clearer thoughts about what can or cannot be done. Positive, creative mulling can proceed without the background feelings of unease, weariness, and ineffectiveness.

This chapter designs to help military sexual trauma (MST) survivors understand normal reactions to MST and how to manage them. Information from feelings helps people make empowering and productive choices. The chapter focuses on feelings which will be redefined from something that may be unwanted or dreaded to something that is useful. Instead of avoiding negative emotions such as feeling hurt, angry, or afraid, we can welcome them. Feelings are the gateway to the unconscious mind. Paying attention to feelings may help reveal underlying unresolved issues. Feelings come from our thoughts and mental images. One task in learning how to manage and tolerate feelings is to become aware and more comfortable with the physical sensations associated with each feeling. Feelings are part of neural networks in the brain. There is nothing more convincing than an emotional experience to reinforce or strengthen the bond between a certain thought and a feeling.

A particularly distressing side effect of shame, self-blame, and guilt is that it is emotionally draining and exhausting, undermining our sense of self-worth and competency. This chapter explores how and why we may experience these emotions and learn ways of challenging them. Healthy self-blame is a way of taking appropriate responsibility for one’s actions. Self-blame is common among adult sexual trauma survivors and it is very common among children who grew up in situations where abuse occurred. Guilt is a sign that the person has not completed his or her grief. Sexual trauma occurs in many different forms and each one is a violation inflicted upon a victim by a perpetrator. Shame, like many feelings, can be either productive or potentially destructive. It may be helpful to write about the feelings or seek the assistance from a mental health provider.

The scripts included in this chapter exemplify how an Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) therapist might talk with a client when the focus is on positive psychology and performance enhancement: reaching for a goal not yet realized, looking for a way to strengthen a positive quality. The scripts accompany a model that has been taught in a number of countries to therapists, coaches, and human resource advisors. The model combines elements of coaching and psychotherapy. Even if there were sufficient time, it would be inappropriate to do Standard EMDR processing with a large group where the practitioner could not monitor the experiences of individual participants. The performance model can also be applied with clients not yet ready to undergo EMDR desensitization because of ego fragility, emotional latency, or any other feature that suggests they cannot yet handle the affective intensity that accompanies EMDR processing.

This chapter discusses the general theory underpinning the practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). It outlines REBT’s major theoretical concepts and considers REBT’s perspective on the nature of psychological disturbance and health. REBT stresses the flexibility and anti-dogmatism of the scientific method and opposes all dogmas, and holds that rigid absolutism is one of the main cores of human disturbance. REBT’s theory of human value is similar to the Christian viewpoint of condemning the sin but forgiving the sinner. Some theorists outlined the powerful effect that language has on thought and the fact that their emotional processes are heavily dependent on the way they, as humans, structure their thought by the language they employ. REBT is most noted for the special place it has accorded cognition in human psychological processes, particularly the role that evaluative thought plays in psychological health and disturbance.

This chapter explores the nature of trauma-related anger and resentment, and examines the impact that may have on our life. Anger is a natural emotion in response to something that is wrong, a violation, or something that should not have happened. The fury of rage can be frightening for both the person experiencing it and for others around him or her and it may lead to regrettable behavior, such as fights or self-destructive acts. Resentment is unresolved anger resulting from not addressing angry feelings associated with hurt or injustice from the past. Forgiveness is a topic that comes up frequently in a course on healing sexual trauma and in particular when discussing anger and justice. The root cause of anger for many people is a lingering feeling of injustice. Radical acceptance means being clear-eyed about what happened by breaking the silence and telling our truths.

The Maze, as a metaphor for a place where problems live and are solved, was developed out of the necessity of working with children who were too anxious, embarrassed, or afraid to experience the uncomfortable feelings around their problem areas. Such children often present as actively oppositional or sullenly silent. It was necessary to find a distancing technique that was both nonthreatening and interesting to gradually establish communication between therapist and child about issues that cause them discomfort. The main purpose of the maze is to gradually sensitize the child to the possibility of exploring the defended inner space where unpleasant, scary emotions dwell. The maze is a concept with which most children are acquainted. They have experienced both feelings of frustration and competence as they followed the convoluted lines with their pencils in workbooks. The elements of the protocol for maze include the following: maze, drawings and footsteps.

This chapter discusses strategies for good sleep, including the good sleep habits, insomnia, presleep routine, immediate nightmare remedies, and understanding and rescripting nightmares. Insomnia is a specific condition that describes when someone has difficulty falling or staying asleep. Stimulus control therapy is designed to help condition the mind and body to sleep. Sleep restriction is a technique to discuss the frustration of lying in bed and not sleeping. A presleep routine is a specific set of behaviors that we do every night that cues our body that it is time to relax and go to sleep. Imagery can be a powerful tool to induce feelings of safety. A nightmare is a dream that wakes us up from our sleep, usually with disturbing or scary content. The experiential mind also does not know the difference between imagined experience and real experience.

This chapter serves as a one-stop resource where therapists can access a wide range of word-for-word scripted protocols for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing (EMDR) practice. These scripts are conveniently outlined in an easy-to-use, manual style template for therapists, allowing them to have a reliable, consistent form and procedure when using EMDR with clients. In a small number of clients, developing a calm place may increase levels of distress. For some clients, bilateral stimulation (BLS), paired with the development of the calm place, may quickly bring the client to intense negative affect. Therefore, it is helpful to find what skill, resource clients need and help them access those experiences to assist them in preparing for the trauma work. Have the client notice the difference in the feelings and sensations associated with the skill, strength, or resource. Guide the client through the process until the positive emotions and sensations are experienced.

This chapter shows that how positive psychology is in fact important to psychology as a whole. It attempts to explain the foundations of positive psychology. It looks at basic conceptions of happiness and subjective well-being (SWB) including all the debates therein, it explores the history of happiness, it debates the criticisms of positive psychology, it examines important theories of SWB and positive emotion, and finally it gives a taste of research in positive psychology. The chapter demonstrates the importance of the study of happiness and SWB. Moreover, as Fredrickson’s theory has shown, positive emotions are crucial, in that they broaden the authors’ momentary thought/action readiness and build essential personal resources for the future. Happiness and joy are consequential, as Helen Keller affirmed, “Joy is the holy fire that keeps our purpose warm and our intelligence aglow”.

This chapter describes the interacting forces, understanding the self, identity and emotions. It examines adolescent self and identity, which will serve as a basis for understanding much about the social and emotional world of adolescents. The adolescent years bring with them the long process of departing childhood and emerging into adulthood. Similar to many aspects of development during adolescence that proceed somewhat differently based on gender, males and females differ in the process of self-exploration and identity formation as well. Sexual experimentation is common during adolescence as part of this gender identity struggle. An inability to develop a mature ethnic identity may entail denying one’s culture of origin, whereas a healthy identity process may result in adolescents who are proud of both their culture of origin and the culture they find themselves in currently.

This chapter describes Piaget’s formal operational stage, thinking in context, and educating adolescents. According to Piaget, during the formal operations stage adolescents advance in their ability to assess questions in scientific ways. Engaging in hypothetico-deductive reasoning does not just occur when adolescents are trying to solve complex questions about math and science. Adolescents have the ability to manipulate and talk about concepts such as love, the future, and God in very tangible ways. Adolescents develop perspective taking, which is the ability to understand the thoughts, emotions, and behaviors of others. In order for adolescents to be successful at social interactions, in which they will be engaged quite often, they need to understand other people. Adolescents value the ability to make independent decisions and consider this to be an integral part of the transition into adulthood.

This chapter discusses prominent theoretical models that link age-related changes in emotional processes with changes in cognition. It also discusses the dynamic integration theory (DIT), which outline how older adults may optimize emotional experience to compensate for reduced affective complexity resulting from declines in fluid cognitive processing. The chapter evaluates the current evidence for and the potential contributions of these theories. It introduces neuroscientific perspectives and reviews how these perspectives interpret age-associated changes in the brain in terms of cognitive-emotional processing. Aging Brain model (ABM) and DIT, therefore, provide more neurologically based explanations for age-related changes in emotional processing, whereas socioemotional selectivity theory (SST) postulates motivation as the cause of such changes. Another theory that might be relevant to the aging literature is the arousal competition biased theory, which posits that the affective state of the perceiver may also play a role in the salience of information.

The first theories of emotion and aging began simply, following assumptions established in biological and cognitive aging research. This chapter outlines findings and theories generated in the early years of gerontology, when the formal study of emotions and aging had just begun. The selective optimization with compensation (SOC) model acknowledges the reduced reserve capacities that often accompany aging and that lead to fewer domains of functioning. The amygdalar aging hypothesis, for example, posits that age-related declines in the amygdala are responsible for age-related reductions in negative emotional experiences. The study of emotion and aging has burgeoned in recent years, with researchers carefully distinguishing between different types of emotion regulation strategies and assessing various aspects of emotional well-being. Theories on emotion and aging have varied, with some focused on deterioration and decline, and others on gains.

This chapter presents over 100 interventions using art, drama, music, writing, dance, and movement that school counselors can easily incorporate into their practices with individual students and groups, and in classroom settings. These creative interventions, based on the American School Counselor Association (ASCA) National Model framework, support the key student domains of academic, career, and personal/social development. The chapter provides a wider variety of modalities as well as easy-to-follow step-by-step instructions for each intervention. It focuses on Creative Interventions in the personal/social domain for conflict garden, a cup of community, and feelings of nature, personal pizza party, pocket pillows, and remembrance bead bracelet. The Conflict Garden is an expressive group-counseling approach in which students create a metaphor for their family of origin in order to gain insight into their current conflict and potential resolutions. Processing postsession feelings is intense and can be overwhelming, especially when exploring painful life events.

This chapter presents the narrative work of Michael White’s, “Saying Hullo Again: The Incorporation of the Lost Relationship in the Resolution of Grief” and the re-membering work as conveyed by Redstone and Hayward, along with action oriented language from the solution focused approach. It explores ideas that take a solution-focused narrative therapy (SFNT) approach that is empathetic and sensitive, yet action oriented. The chapter outlines ideas for assisting clients with grief and loss and ideas for assisting adults, children or adolescents of emotional abuse and neglect. The ideas presented the chapter acknowledge those who have died yet resurrect them in terms of their influence, providing the client with something to hold onto going forward. The approach takes the narrative therapy work that focuses on the influences of those who have passed on and the solution-focused use of the Scaling Question.

Thomas (pseudonym for a composite student profile), in his final K–12 year, participates in five components of a multidimensional program for gifted students in a large school: Future Problem Solving (FPS), Advanced Placement (AP) courses, a noon-hour philosophy course taught by a retired professor, after-school lectures by community members, and small discussion groups focused on nonacademic development. He has an extremely high IQ, is known as an excellent musician, and recently was named a semifinalist in the Preliminary SAT (PSAT) merit-scholar competition. However, his only-average academic record has long frustrated teachers, who seem offended by his seemingly limp investment and who see an “attitude problem” in his lack of oral engagement and absent homework. Thomas has a quiet personality, typically avoids eye contact, and seems older than his age. He has taken no steps toward postsecondary education, and he will need financial aid if that is his direction. One of his teachers asks the school counselor to meet with him to assess needs and concerns, including those related to college applications. Before she meets with Thomas, the counselor arranges conversations with his current teachers, his single-parent mother, the orchestra teacher/conductor, and the gifted-education program coordinator. Only the one teacher has ever referred Thomas to the counselor.

The AP American Literature and AP American History teachers both focus mostly on the missed assignments but note his serious alertness during class and brilliant insights on the papers he has submitted. The chemistry teacher expresses concern about Thomas’s sad demeanor but notes that he pays attention in class and does “OK” academically. The orchestra director, who has worked with Thomas since elementary grades, calls him one of the most gifted and highly invested musicians he has known. He reacts emotionally when he listens to classical music.

The gifted-education teacher has learned that Thomas struggles with perfectionism—with essays stalled after he has discarded several eloquent thesis statements. He has told her that he doubts he can follow through worthily. About eye contact, Thomas once said he could not hear peers’ comments when distracted by the visual stimuli of faces. He despairs over circumstances in distressed countries. Nevertheless, he is a quiet leader on his FPS team. His mother describes her acrimonious divorce and the depression Thomas has struggled with since middle school. She worries about him, especially now, with his inertia about applications. She hopes, given the PSAT results, that he will now invest in the process, securing a scholarship. She feels incapable of helping him.

This chapter assists the therapist in conceptualizing how to use the eight phases of eye movement desensitization and reprocessing (EMDR) therapy with each age group of children; infants through adolescents. It addresses the developmental stages of each age group and how to apply the phases of EMDR therapy. Then, where appropriate, assessment forms, instructions, and/or scripts are included for children 0 to 6 years of age and preteens and teenagers. Therapists may guide parent involvement by teaching basic parenting skills. As part of the initial phases of EMDR therapy, the therapist integrates standardized infant/toddler assessment processes as recommended by Early Headstart programs. Alternating bilateral stimulation can be taught in many ways using toys. Trauma reprocessing phases with infants through 14 months will most likely need parents as assistants in expressing what may be the child’s traumatic event, emotions, and body sensations.

This chapter provides specific suggestions and considerations regarding the relevance of emotion-centered problem-solving therapy (EC-PST) in three areas of focus: reducing suicidal ideation and behaviors; fostering positive functioning; and treating military service members and veterans. It also provides tips for applying EC-PST as a positive psychology approach with a specific focus on fostering hope and goal attainment. Suicide continues to be a major public health concern, both nationally and internationally. Research continues to document an important relationship between social problem-solving (SPS) deficits and suicidality. Although only a small number of investigations have been conducted to date that has evaluated the efficacy of problem-solving therapy (PST)-based protocols to reduce suicidality, the extant literature basically supports its effectiveness. The chapter offers a series of visualization exercises to provide individuals a means of fostering hope, and, in combination with the planful problem-solving tools, which can significantly enhance goal attainment.

The value of efficiency is quite important in practically all psychotherapy, but is often neglected. Feeling better has a great advantage, but it is limited in many respects. In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), an existential view of depth-centeredness in psychotherapy has various advantages over less depth-centered views. Pervasiveness in psychotherapy may be defined as a therapist helping his or her clients to deal with many of their problems, and in a sense their whole lives, rather than with a few presenting symptoms. Extensiveness in psychotherapy means that clients can be helped not only to minimize their disturbing negative feelings for example, anxietizing, depressing, and raging but also to maximize their potential for happy living that is, to be more productive, creative, and enjoying. Efficiency in therapy, particularly with resisting clients, therefore consists of convincing them thoroughly that they’d better go for a more elegant, rather than a less elegant, change.

This chapter provides methods to overcome the negative self-talk, by replacing it with balanced thinking that includes some realistic optimism. We humans have problem-solving, thinking brains that are always trying to make sense of our world. Sometimes sleep-related thoughts persist and this is when we need to face them head-on, evaluate them and respond to them in a new way so they are not so alerting and troubling. The chapter introduces us to the “cognitive therapy” component of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia (CBT-I). Feelings are basic and instinctive and easier to identify than thoughts. Therefore, the chapter presents an exercise that starts with asking one about their feelings, and then asks them to identify their associated automatic sleep-related thoughts. It provides an example, based on a real person with insomnia.

This chapter presents general signs that an eating disorder may be present. It discusses in detail the signs and symptoms of specific eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; and binge eating disorder. The chapter presents each specific eating disorder in terms of the signs that may signal that particular disorder followed by a description of diagnostic symptoms that are indicative of that disorder. It looks at what may be an indicator that an eating disorder of some kind may be developing or has already developed. Emotional signs of an eating disorder can involve specific changes in emotions, the expression of particular emotions, or the experience of things that can negatively impact someone's emotions. In addition to emotional and behavioral signs, there are many physical signs indicative of an eating disorder that can affect potentially every system in one's body.

This chapter describes the first emotion-centered problem-solving therapy tool kit—Planful Problem Solving. This tool kit is composed of four major activities: defining the problem; generating alternative solution ideas; making decisions as to which alternatives to include in an action plan; and carrying out the action plan and verifying its outcome. The chapter provides two versions for training in these tools: brief planful problem-solving training and intensive planful problem-solving training. Training in problem definition involves teaching clients to engage in five specific activities: seek available facts; describe facts in clear language; separate facts from assumptions; set realistic goals; and identify obstacles to overcome to reach such goals. Training in the generation-of-alternatives tool focuses on applying three brainstorming principles when attempting to think creatively of possible solution options. They include the quantity principle, the defer-judgment principle, and the variety principle.

This chapter begins by describing various practical assessment issues related to the effective implementation of emotion-centered problem-solving therapy (EC-PST). It first describes major areas of clinical assessment relevant to EC-PST including: assessment of general social problem solving abilities and attitudes; assessment of current and previous SPS activities; assessment of problems, stressful difficulties, major negative life events, and/or traumatic events recently or currently experienced by a given client or client population; and assessment of outcome variables related to presenting problems and emotion reactivity vulnerabilities. The chapter then provides treatment guidelines to assist the reader to best determine what form or version of EC-PST or training sequence should be implemented with a given individual. To foster effective treatment planning and clinical decision-making specific to EC-PST, it provides a series of frequently asked questions for therapists unfamiliar with this approach.

This chapter focuses on the second of the four emotion-centered problem-solving therapy (EC-PST) tool kits: Problem-Solving Multitasking: Overcoming “Brain Overload”. This tool helps clients overcome ubiquitous barriers to effective problem solving, particularly when under stress. This set of tools addresses the concern of the brain’s inability to multitask efficiently, especially when addressing complex and/or emotionally laden problems. The chapter suggests that to overcome this barrier, an individual should use three specific strategies: externalization, visualization, and simplification. It provides a brief description for externalization, visualization, and simplification. Externalization involves placing information in an external format. Visualization is recommended for three important purposes: problem clarification, imaginal rehearsal, and stress management. Simplification involves attempting to break down or simplify a large or complex problem to make it more manageable. The chapter ends by revisiting the case of Megan to illustrate certain points about problem-solving multitasking.

This chapter focuses on the fourth emotion-centered problem-solving therapy (EC-PST) tool kit—the “Stop and Slow Down”method of overcoming emotional dysregulation and maladaptive problem solving under stress. It introduces the acronym SSTA, which represents the phrase “Stop, be aware, and Slow down, Think, and Act”. The importance of this kit is to help individuals prevent strong emotional arousal from escalating and impacting their ability to engage in effective problem solving. To provide a greater context within which to understand emotional regulation, the chapter describes five classes or categories of such approaches: situation selection, situation modification, attention deployment, cognitive change, and response modulation. In describing each of these types of processes, the chapter highlights how EC-PST actually incorporates each of these five sets of emotion regulation strategies in the various kits. The chapter ends by revisiting the case of Mark to overcome emotion dysregulation.

Cognitive behavioral family therapy (CBFT) involves assisting clients with changing their self-defeating or irrational beliefs to change their feelings and behaviors. It assumes that family relationships, cognitions, behaviors, and emotions have a mutual influence on one another; cognitive inference evokes emotion and behavior; and emotion and behavior can influence cognition. When this cycle occurs among family members, dysfunctional cognitions, behaviors, or emotions can result in conflict. CBFT includes the family members who are needed to help bring about change in the family. This chapter takes a close look at how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and other behavioral therapies developed. The CBFT template is meant to be used as a guideline to learning the process of CBT with families. The template provides the beginning therapist with steps to take and questions to ask that promote collaboration between the therapist and the client.

Long before psychotherapy integration became popular in the 1980s, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) promoted integration and, to some degree, selective eclecticism. REBT often eclectically chooses certain techniques that seem to work well with different clients especially, with resisting clients. This chapter shows how one may practice REBT and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) and integrate them with other leading schools of treatment. REBT agrees with the psychoanalytic theory that many thoughts, feelings and behaviors are automatic and unconscious. The theory of REBT was distinctly influenced by Adlerian formulations were largely neo-Adlerian. The chapter also shows how REBT and Adlerian principles significantly overlap. Gestalt therapy has its distinct hazards and can do as much harm as good, especially to resistant clients who have severe personality disorders. REBT and CBT usually do not emphasize some of the methods of certain other modes of therapy such as Reichian or bodywork therapy.

Eating disorders are complex and difficult to treat. One of the most significant reasons for difficulty with respect to treatment is not only the degree to which these disorders can be life threatening, but perhaps more significantly, the degree to which the eating disorder fights tooth and nail to ensure its survival. Strong emotional reactions, often referred to as countertransference reactions, to patients with an eating disorder are common and can range from care and concern to frustration and rage. Acknowledging and identifying one's own countertransference reactions can help both the person feeling them and the patient as well. This is particularly true for treatment providers who can risk harm to themselves and/or the patient if countertransference reactions remain unidentified. By contrast, when countertransference reactions are identified and appropriately understood the treatment provider may learn more about himself or herself as well as the patient, which ultimately can benefit treatment.

Symbolic-experiential family therapy focuses on here-and-now experiences, playfulness, humor, intuition, craziness, spontaneity, and personal growth. As with other therapies, the goal is to get the client "unstuck". Unlike other therapies, symbolic-experiential therapy achieves this by creating a different experience in the current moment rather than dissecting the past or projecting forward into the future. The main goal of the theory is not to provide insight, but rather to focus on experiencing the process of therapy to produce change in the family. There are four stages to symbolic-experiential therapy, beginning with the initial phone call. Because the stages are not meant to flow in a linear direction throughout therapy, it is common for clients to move back and forth between stages throughout the course of treatment. It encourages each family member to reveal deep emotions and engage in deep conversations that otherwise might not occur.

For centuries, philosophers, neuroscientists, psychologists, and many others have attempted to define consciousness in humans. Depending upon who you are, what your agenda is, and how you were trained, definitions for consciousness will vary. This chapter jumps right into the hotly debated area of animal consciousness. It takes an in-depth look at how philosophers and scientists have defined consciousness, specific cognitive abilities that might signal consciousness, and which animals can be said to have them, or a version of them. The main topics covered include theory of mind, self-awareness, and emotions. Happy, the first elephant documented to behave as if she recognized herself in a mirror, as well as the important implications of this finding, is the subject of the animal spotlight. The human application section walks through how theory of mind develops in children and the ways developmental psychologists can determine whether a child has mastered it.

This chapter presents a case study of an 11-year-old male whose supportive parents brought him to counseling with concerns about how his anxiety significantly affected his daily life. He expressed feelings of fear about his life, and isolated and withdrew from others as a consequence. The patient’s school records indicated problems with focus, but with intervention, he made substantial progress in reading. He exhibited no physical issues at birth and as an infant. About a year later, he received diagnoses of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and an anxiety disorder. He was aware of his inability to control his emotional reactions, and understood the impact this had on himself and others, but did not know how to implement change. The adults in his world reported significant problems with inattention and hyperactivity, depressed mood, and somatic problems, along with a broad executive dysfunction affecting his ability to regulate his own behaviors.