Adlerian Psychotherapy

Drs Carlson, Watts and Maniacci, all renowned Adlerian practitioners, have written an excellent compendium of Adlerian theory and procedures. If you are a novice therapist or an experienced practitioner, there are morsels to whet your appetite in this volume. Like all good therapy, one's intention must be to methodically traverse the supposed mundane to get to the exciting. In Adlerian theory and therapy, however, all stages of studying carry an excitement of learning nuggests that will lead to a gold mine of information. The authors describe how Adlerian theory and therapy can be tailored to meet the needs of today's practitioner of brief, integrative, present-oriented, problem-focused, therapy. The Adlerian approach is portrayed as both an integrative and technically eclectic approach to the human condition which also 'resonates' with more modern constructivist and narrative therapies. They present many practical scenarios and suggestions on how to develop the all important therapeutic relationship which is the floor on which the therapy must be based. Integration of this theory with the DSM also is a unique way of merging a formal assessment procedure with the more flexible and understandable Adlerian view making the process of treatment planning both more relevant and much more satisfying to do. This is a must have for today's serious therapists/counselors.

It's so typical textbook style of writing. I was so excited to learn about Adlerian writing but after a few pages of it, I felt a less enthusiastic. I'll still try to finish it because the authors are very knowledgeable, but they could try to make it more readable and more personal to the reader.