Transdiagnostic Road Map to Case Formulation and Treatment Planning: Practical Guidance for Clinical Decision Making by Rochelle I. Frank

by Rochelle I. Frank

Transdiagnostic treatment is the future of psychology.Mounting evidence shows that moving beyond treatment protocols that focus on a singular diagnosis and toward transdiagnostic approaches that target psychological mechanisms can improve outcomes. If you are seeking to correctly identify mechanisms and use them to select interventions that best meet the needs of your clients this book offers a powerful and much needed guide. The Transdiagnostic Road Map to Case Formulation and Treatment Planning is the first book to provide an empirically-based method for identifying specific psychological mechanisms underlying clients’ presenting problems and symptoms and linking them to clinical interventions that comprise individualized treatment plans.The transdiagnostic approach outlined in this book signals a revolutionary departure from traditional treatments relying on DSM categorization and gives mental health professionals an essential resource for treating a broad range of patient problems. It builds on existing case formulation approaches by bridging research on psychological mechanisms with a practical guide to assessment and treatment. If you are interested in a new approach to treating patients with symptoms that span different diagnostic categories or are struggling to keep up with the growing number of disorder-based protocols, this book is an extremely important addition to your professional library. It will serve as your compass for navigating both simple and complex cases to arrive at a more effective type of treatment planning—one that is tailored to your client’s specific needs and targets the underlying mechanisms responsible for driving and maintaining their presenting problems and symptoms.For more than forty years, New Harbinger has published powerful, evidence-based psychology resources for mental health professionals and self-help books for clients. As the landscape of psychology evolves, New Harbinger will remain at the forefront, offering clinicians real tools for real change.

Genres: Psychology

Hardcover

First published August 1, 2014

Reviews

[Morgan Blackledge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Transdiagnostic case formulation (along with modular process based therapy models) represent the backbone of an exciting revolution happening right HERE and right NOW in psychotherapy.

That’s right.

You heard me.

It’s a REVOLUTION.

Transdiagnostic case formulation is a GIANT step away from the feted corpse that is: matching DSM or ICD diagnosis (x) to manualized treatment (y).

We need to get past that.

It really needs to happen.

Think about it...

What (in the actual fuck) does it mean to say that CBT (or any other huge and monolithic treatment modality) has been found to be effective for major depression (an equally huge and monolithic diagnosis).

What part of CBT?

What aspect of depression?

What etiology?

It’s kind of a broad brush.

In terms of diagnosis. The same underlying psychological mechanisms may present in very different ways in different individuals.

One etiological mechanism may look like depression in one person, anxiety in the next, and personality disorders in another.

So why not identify the underlying mechanisms and treat those?

Good question.

In terms of treatment. One individual may respond to an acceptance strategy in one moment, a change strategy in the next and a psychodynamic reflection one minute later.

So why not target underlying mechanisms with appropriate therapeutic processes from each model based on what’s actually effective?

Another good ass question.

These (and other equally good ass questions) are what transdiagnostic case formulation attempts to address.

And man.

It’s a breath of fresh air and a golden shaft of sunlight in the dusty putrid tomb that is the DSM based medical model.

But similar to down town Los Angeles (or DTLA as avaricious loft developers and realestate agents rebranded it).

We’re just not quite there yet.

Let’s face it...

It smells like pee.

Its 105 degrees in October.

The traffic couldn’t be worse if M. C. Esher designed it.

And your odds of contracting a new incurable strain of tuberculosis are somewhere between Trump 2020 and Vegas bad.

In other words.

It still has a ways to go.

In fact, that should be the ‘honest’ tag line for downtown town Los Angeles.

DTLA: let’s face it, we still have a ways to go.

Anyway.

The same (or similar) can be said of the transdiagnostic model.

It has a ways to go.

This book is a nice first step.

But it’s not worth investing in quite yet.

Steven C. Hayes has a compendium on the topic dropping in October 2020.

I have it coming on pre-order (just saying).

My hopes are pinned on it.

If it drops like I’m thinking it will.

It’s going to be the BOMB ( 🙏🏻 = 📖 + 💣 + 💥 )

And let’s face it.

2020: we need something (anything) to live for.

Maybe Steven C. Jesus will (at least partially) extinguish the 2020 trash fire?

My hopes are high, and my expectations are low.

I wanted a path to be blazed in this volume.

I really really did.

But the book didn’t quite clear the bar.

Three stars ⭐️ (x3)

[Kris Martens · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fantastic book! For all clinicians who want to fit their interventions to vulnerability factors and working mechanisms, but aren't sure how to do that.